Phila Hach, a culinary pioneer from Tennessee who had the first televised cooking show in the South, has died.
Her son, Joe Hach, said she died Wednesday at the age of 89.
Hach starred on WSM-TVs "Kitchen Kollege" from 1950 to 1956. Later, she worked as a restaurateur, caterer and innkeeper in Clarksville and Nashville.
Phila Rawlings Hach famously smuggled mint juleps to a 1976 luncheon she catered for 1,700 United Nations members and dignitaries at Nashville's Centennial Park. Hach used state troopers to ferry Jack Daniel's whiskey from Lynchburg to Nashville, then mixed the drinks at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in the middle of the night.
In October, Hach was honored by the Southern Foodways Alliance with the Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame award.
