A descendant of one of the pioneer boarding house families, Wanda Landrey searched the Big Thicket to find survivors of the boarding house era and to collect their stories and recipes.

Wanda A. Landrey is a historian, writer and researcher who lectures on the culture of the Big Thicket region of Texas. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from Lamar University, and lives in Beaumont, Texas.

“Wanda Landrey causes me to remember a special day, long ago, when I ate sweet potato pie at the Bragg Hotel in the Big Thicket. This book makes me hungry, not just for the boarding house dishes Wanda describes, but also for a time in Texas culture that is gone forever.” --Leon Hale

“. . . this is much more than just another regional cookbook. Many photos add to the narrative. . . . From a unique black hotel in Trinity with embroidered napkins and crystal, to an antebellum health resort that featured wild game, to the ordinary Harvey House restaurants in railroad depots, Landrey touched on a Big Thicket life few persons know existed.” --East Texas Historical Journal

“It’s either a cookbook with a lot of history or a history book with a lot of recipes. Either way, Boardin’ in the Thicket is a fascinating collection of characters, customs, historical tidbits and recipes for down-home country cooking.” --Houston Chronicle

“Pioneers in southeast Texas found a little Eden in the Big Thicket . . . domesticated cattle and hogs lived wild alongside deer and bear. Ducks and geese were counted in the millions. . . . The woods were filled with delicacies like nuts and wild fruit. The commerce that crisscrossed the region created a network of boarding houses, with a unique cooking style that took advantage of the bounty of the land.” --The Bloomsbury Review

“Anyone who ventures into the Thicket historically, much less gastronomically, will be rewarded with a reading of this book. Take it with hot strong coffee and a fluffy biscuit, a’drip with honey.” --Howard Peacock