About us
Who is NeeCee?
My name is Alicia Anderson and I consider myself to be a native Chattanoogan. Even though I was born at a hospital across the state line in Ft. Oglethorpe GA, I was bundled up an brought to my home on 13th Street in Chattanooga. When I was born, my 4 year old sister could not pronounce my name and called me NeeCee. That nickname stuck with my family and I now have a niece and nephew that call me Aunt NeeCee.
In my early life, I was an Airforce brat. I like to say I lived in every state for about 10 minutes. I often feel this is why I have such a varied palate for regional cuisines across the nation.
Through his Air Force experiences, my father (A Survival Specialist) was responsible for my introduction to unique foods from his experience all over the world. He spent time in England, Korea, France, Japan and several other countries. He made good friends all over the world and brought them home to Mom for dinner. Mom would cook them traditional fare from the South (Dad was born in Georgia and Mom was born in North Carolina).
Being a survival expert, my father also introduced me to some of my less favorite culinary experiences, such as camping in the desert in California and sampling rattlesnake, grubs and other creepy crawlies. He is also is why I won’t eat anything offered to me before I am assured of its contents and origins of development and more importantly… species.
But God love him (And I assure you, I adored him), he also bought me my first easy bake oven, took me to a food judging competition at the Orange County Fair in California. It was 1968 and I was only 11. I loved it and was hooked. I would sit in his lap and watch Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet
I have been in some form of sales or marketing for most of my life, but kept my toes dipped in the culinary world by periodic stints as a cake decorator, caterer, and teaching cooking lessons in my home kitchen. I even spent two years selling restaurant equipment and developing restaurant concepts for a company called Southern Foods Inc. (ironically home officed in Illinois).
For the past ten years I have worked as an interviewer at Wilkins Research (A market research firm in Chattanooga Tennessee). I have recently been teaching a basic cooking class as well as a class I like to call “The Art of the Dinner Party”.
I never had children but always wanted a big family to cook for. I have adopted many dear friends and have them over for dinner parties often and throw a huge “Friends-Giving” each year for 12 to 20 of my nearest and dearest.
I look forward to developing my website neeceeskitchen.com and posting stories about my history with and love of all things food.