Carol Daily is my hero

By By Robert St. John / food columnist
Jan. 29, 2003
Robert St. John is the executive chef/owner of New South Restaurant Group, www.nsrg.com. His weekly food column appears in newspapers in Mississippi and Louisiana. He can be reached at robert@nsrg.com or (601) 264-0672.
There are many entrees into the food business.
There are restaurants, cafeterias, diners, delicatessens and variations on those themes. There are food suppliers, grocers, cooking teachers, cookbook authors, restaurant reviewers, cooking supply manufacturing companies, restaurant supply warehouses, ad infinitum.
I fit into the restaurateur/food writer/consumer-of-mass-quantities-of-groceries category.
Carol Puckett Daily, founder and owner of the Everyday Gourmet in Jackson, defies classification.
Carol Daily is my hero. Webster defines everyday as "ordinary common."
Carol is a bona fide gourmet, but she is anything but common and ordinary. The oldest of six children, she grew up in Jackson and, like many of us, had her first cooking experience using an Easy Bake Oven.
As a teen-ager, Carol spent summers on the Gulf Coast broadening her love of cooking while boiling shrimp with her father.
The Everyday Gourmet is the culinary epicenter of Mississippi. Carol opened the store with her mother, Dorothy Puckett (an expatriated Hattiesburger) in Mr. Whittington's old gas station on Old Canton Road in 1981.
In 1994, they opened a new and larger version of the original store in north Jackson. All things gourmet and foodie-like in the state of Mississippi come and go from that wonderful retail space on County Line Road.
The Everyday Gourmet is the South's premiere gourmet food store, cooking school and foodie haunt. Over the last 20 years, The Everyday Gourmet has brought a steady stream of celebrity chefs into the state of Mississippi Martha Stewart, Jacques Pepin, Emeril Lagasse and the like.
The Everyday Gourmet has made life in Mississippi taste a whole lot better.
Quality in all endeavors is the key. I have always lived by the business philosophy of "being in it for the long-run." Carol invented that philosophy.
Matron of multi-tasking
Today's hot, business-guru buzzword is "multi-tasking." For most of us multi-tasking consists of walking, breathing and talking all at once.
For Carol Daily, multi-tasking is second nature. In a just world, a Google search for the word "multi-tasking" would yield a computer screen filled with an 8×10 glossy of Carol Puckett Daily. She is Mississippi's main matron of multi-tasking.
Carol has limitless energy. The list of her titles, achievements and accomplishments is ever-growing.
She is Mississippi's #1 foodie, but she is much more than that. If we were to make a list of Carol Daily's official titles and accomplishments it would begin with: gourmet cook, foodie and retailer. But we couldn't stop there. No.
List keeps growing
In 1992, Carol opened The Everyday Gardener, which occupies the original Everyday Gourmet retail space. Add horticulturist to the list.
The Everyday Gourmet Christmas catalog ships nationwide to 50,000 businesses and individuals. Add successful mail-order marketing executive to the list.
The Everyday Gourmet was Gail Pittman's first-ever pottery distributor. Carol has helped to launch many careers. Add supporter, adviser and guru to the list.
And the list keeps growing
A hard worker, Daily logs a month's worth of 18-hour shifts during the Christmas season. At Mistletoe Marketplace, after three long days of frenzied-retail sales, I witnessed Carol leading her crew in the load-out. Add roadie to the list.
A few years ago Carol found a few spare minutes and took on a second full-time job as managing director of the Viking Culinary Arts Centers. Now Carol Daily is nationwide. Add corporate executive to the list.
As one of the original Sweet Potato Queens, we can add party girl and fun merchant to the list.
Did I mention that Carol is a Consultant to the exclusive Blackberry Farm resort and spa in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee? Mark one in the consultant column.
Civic leader
She continues to serve on many boards of directors and as an officer of many civic and business organizations. From bank boards to crime commissions, Carol has served her state and community.
Former president of the Jackson Junior Auxiliary, board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, commencement speaker, member of the advisory board of the Culinary Arts Institute at the Mississippi University for Women, and the list goes on.
Can I get a motion to add all of those titles by acclamation?
The Queen of All Things Culinary, Carol is often recognized as a successful businesswoman. I say, forget gender, Carol Daily is a successful business person. She is a jack of all trades and a master of each and every one.
Some have called Carol Daily the Martha Stewart of Mississippi. I prefer to call Martha Stewart the Carol Daily of America.
Comeback Sauce/Dressing
1 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup Chili sauce
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Yellow onion, grated
3 tablespoons Lemon juice
2 tablespoons Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Paprika
1 tablespoon Water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
1 teaspoon Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dry mustard
1 teaspoon Salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix well. Yield: 31/2 cups.