Among the more than 5,000 fans who streamed into Dorton Arena on Wednesday evening to see Paula Deen's sold-out show was a cluster of women wearing yellow inflatable crowns. Asked why she likes the Food Network star, Trudy Williams, 50, of Burlington, said, "She's from the South. She can cook -- and put butter in anything."

Added Williams, "She's a good role model for the menopausal set."

As for why they were wearing crowns, "Why not?" said Kim Fehr, 43, of Chapel Hill.

Before her State Fair performance, the goddess of butter-laden church-supper cooking granted 10-minute interviews to local reporters. Staff writer Andrea Weigl threw a few rapid-fire questions her way:

Q: Miracle Whip or Duke's mayonnaise?

A: Duke's mayonnaise.

Q: Salted or unsalted butter?

A: Salted butter.

Q: What's your favorite brand of butter?

A: Land O'Lakes, although I like French butter, too.

Q: What's your favorite thing to eat at a state fair?

A: I love a foot-long hot dog. I love a funnel cake. I love cotton candy and a candy apple.

Q: What's your cholesterol level?

A: It was on the last test, 207.

Q: How do you watch your weight?

A: I don't. I let everybody else watch it.

Q: Would you rather be remembered for your food or your personality?

A: My personality.

Q: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

A: The fact that I'm a smoker. I would go back and change that day the summer of 1962.

Q: What advice do you have for someone struggling with agoraphobia? (For about two decades, Deen could not leave her house without risking a panic attack.)

A: I have lots of advice. Talk about it. Share your secret. Memorize the Serenity Prayer. And do not let any type of fear stop you from living. ... But the Serenity Prayer is what really brought me out of it because I understood then what I was supposed to be asking God for. Some things I can't change. You're not going to change taxes. You're not going to change death. It's a part of life. I went about trying to change the things that I could. You just pray that God will give you the wisdom to know the difference between those two things.

Q: How do you come up with your more unusual recipes? For example, cheesy ham-and-banana casserole.

A: I don't get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I used to, so we have a team of people that are constantly working and developing. Once in a while, I'll get in there and still develop a recipe. But like I said, I have one heck of a team.

Q: How long can you draw out a "y'all"?

A: (Three seconds on the first try. Four seconds on the second.)

Q: What do you want your legacy to be?

A: My legacy left to me from my father was how to treat people, how to work with people. I hope I pass that legacy on, along with the thought that with hard work, you can do and accomplish anything. ... For my grandson, I want to build a whole other legacy.

Q: What would that be?

A: I want him to be aware that a very ordinary woman with a high school education managed to start a business with $200 and build it into a business that will take him through his lifetime. Through hard work, focus and dedication, we live in a country where you are allowed to do something like that.