Francis N. Wiltz was born and raised in South Louisiana. Francis learned his Cajun-Creole cooking techniques primarily from his mama. He moved to California after completing college then spent 6 years in the U.S. Air Forces. While living in New Mexico, Francis developed an interest in Mexican-American cooking and then moved back to California and worked for an aerospace company as a software engineer for 28 years. He completed his masters of computer science degree at a local university and also worked there for 8 years as a professor of computer science. Francis now spends much of his time cooking and researching the foods of his heritage. This cookbook sprang forth from this passion he has with cooking.