Annabel Langbein
Encyclopedia
Annabel Langbein is a New Zealand celebrity cook, food writer and publisher. She is also a regular radio guest and TV presenter, and has fronted her own TV series, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, on the TV One network in New Zealand. She is known for promoting organic food, primarily using seasonal ingredients and is a member of the Sustainability Council of New Zealand.
of New Zealand. By chance she later shared a flat with her future sister-in-law Debbie who helped orchestrate their relationship. She claims to have attracted Ted with the help of a bacon and egg pie. He proposed three times before she finally said yes and they married in Wellington
.
with some friends to enjoy an alternative lifestyle growing vegetables, cooking over a fire and living off the land. For several years she hunted and fished for much of her own food and it was during this time that she honed her skills through endless experimentation.
She started to cook for a living when she went to Gisborne
to work as a chef in a friend's restaurant. She realised that she couldn't cook the same food every day and used the opportunity to save some money for an OE
. She travelled the world experimenting with different flavours but got sick in South America. She didn't want to return home but developed a strong desire to cook and eventually made her way back to New Zealand.
in New Zealand. She has also attended residential cooking courses at the Culinary Institute of America
in upstate New York.
Since 1984 she has worked as a food writer. She has written for several magazines including NZ Life & Leisure since its first issue, a fortnightly column for the NZ Listener
, as a feature writer for Cuisine
for 11 years and as food editor for Grace. She also is a regular guest on New Zealand's Newstalk ZB
radio network.
She has authored 18 cookbooks which are published in numerous languages and have been sold all around the world. Her 2010 book The Free Range Cook was available in more than 70 countries and sold more than 110,000 copies.
In 1991 she established the Culinary Institute of New Zealand, a specialist food marketing consultancy, and was responsible for marketing and media campaigns for New Zealand food manufacturers, retailers, and exporters, as well as promoting New Zealand food offshore for Trade New Zealand.
For seven years she was a director of New Zealand gourmet cheese company Kapiti.
She is the principal of Annabel Langbein Media Limited, an Auckland-based company that provides food and lifestyle media services, including book publishing and TV and video production.
UK-based company FremantleMedia
Enterprises first noticed her presenting skills in 2008. To accompany her cookbook Eat Fresh, she made a series of how-to cooking features that she posted on YouTube.The series has also appeared in Australia on the ABC
network and has been distributed worldwide by FreemantleMedia. As a result the series has appeared on networks in France, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Israel, UK, Canada, Asia, Brazil and Japan.
In Brazil the show airs on the GNT
cable channel under the translated title A Cozinha Caseira de Annabel (Annabel's Homemade Cooking).
Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook was named New Zealand’s best celebrity cookbook for 2010 in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
For three years, she was a judge for the International Association of Culinary Professionals'
Julia Child
Award for the best First Cookbook.
Family
She is the daughter of Fred and Anne Langbein and is married to Ted Hewetson with whom she has two children. Her father worked in a city office but was a keen vegetable gardener and beekeeper, while her mother Anne was a natural cook and home science university graduate. She credits her mother as the inspiration of her cooking. She first met husband Ted while working as a possum trapper on his family's farm on the East CapeEast Cape
East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located to the north of Gisborne in the northeast of the North Island....
of New Zealand. By chance she later shared a flat with her future sister-in-law Debbie who helped orchestrate their relationship. She claims to have attracted Ted with the help of a bacon and egg pie. He proposed three times before she finally said yes and they married in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
.
Early life
As a teenager in the 1970s she says was a fully-fledged hippy and feminist, railed against domesticity, consumerism and the urban world in general and left home and school at the age of 16. Her mother took her to Europe in the hope of showing her the 'real world' but on her return she moved up the Whanganui RiverWhanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand.Known for many years as the Wanganui River, the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991, according with the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island...
with some friends to enjoy an alternative lifestyle growing vegetables, cooking over a fire and living off the land. For several years she hunted and fished for much of her own food and it was during this time that she honed her skills through endless experimentation.
She started to cook for a living when she went to Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
to work as a chef in a friend's restaurant. She realised that she couldn't cook the same food every day and used the opportunity to save some money for an OE
Oe
Oe or OE may refer to:*Œ or œ, a ligature of o and e used in the modern French and medieval Latin alphabets*Oe *Open-mid front rounded vowel or *Ö*Ø*Ө, a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet*Ōe, Yamagata, a town of Japan...
. She travelled the world experimenting with different flavours but got sick in South America. She didn't want to return home but developed a strong desire to cook and eventually made her way back to New Zealand.
Career
She never formally trained as a chef but has a Diploma of Horticulture from Lincoln UniversityLincoln University, New Zealand
Lincoln University is a New Zealand university that was formed in 1990 when Lincoln College, Canterbury was made independent of the University of Canterbury...
in New Zealand. She has also attended residential cooking courses at the Culinary Institute of America
Culinary Institute of America
The Culinary Institute of America is a non-profit culinary college located in Hyde Park USA, founded in 1946. The CIA also has branch campuses in St. Helena, California, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as a campus in Singapore. It is a not-for-profit academic institution of higher learning...
in upstate New York.
Since 1984 she has worked as a food writer. She has written for several magazines including NZ Life & Leisure since its first issue, a fortnightly column for the NZ Listener
New Zealand Listener
The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...
, as a feature writer for Cuisine
Cuisine (magazine)
Cuisine is a bi-monthly food and wine magazine published in New Zealand. It began publication in 1986, and has also existed in website form since December 2000.The magazine features recipes, restaurant reviews, wine reviews and travel features...
for 11 years and as food editor for Grace. She also is a regular guest on New Zealand's Newstalk ZB
Newstalk ZB
Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio network operated by The Radio Network of New Zealand . It is available in almost every radio market in the country, and has news reporters based in many of them...
radio network.
She has authored 18 cookbooks which are published in numerous languages and have been sold all around the world. Her 2010 book The Free Range Cook was available in more than 70 countries and sold more than 110,000 copies.
In 1991 she established the Culinary Institute of New Zealand, a specialist food marketing consultancy, and was responsible for marketing and media campaigns for New Zealand food manufacturers, retailers, and exporters, as well as promoting New Zealand food offshore for Trade New Zealand.
For seven years she was a director of New Zealand gourmet cheese company Kapiti.
She is the principal of Annabel Langbein Media Limited, an Auckland-based company that provides food and lifestyle media services, including book publishing and TV and video production.
Television
In August 2010 TV One debuted her show, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, a 13-part series filmed at her holiday cabin. She co-produced the series and worked with a seven-person TVNZ crew over a six-month filming schedule. It was the first time she had fronted her own cooking show and series on television.UK-based company FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
Enterprises first noticed her presenting skills in 2008. To accompany her cookbook Eat Fresh, she made a series of how-to cooking features that she posted on YouTube.The series has also appeared in Australia on the ABC
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
network and has been distributed worldwide by FreemantleMedia. As a result the series has appeared on networks in France, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Israel, UK, Canada, Asia, Brazil and Japan.
In Brazil the show airs on the GNT
GNT
This article is about a Brazilian TV channel. For other uses, see Gnt .GNT is a Brazilian cable/satellite television channel. Originally launched as GNT: Globosat News Television, a news and information network. With the launch of Globo News, in 1996, the GNT acronym became meaningless, and the...
cable channel under the translated title A Cozinha Caseira de Annabel (Annabel's Homemade Cooking).
| Year | Programme | Episodes | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Free Range Cook | 13 Episodes | 30 minutes |
Honours
She has won NZ food writing awards. The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives won the 1999 NZ Guild of Foodwriters 'Recipe Book of the Year' award while Savour the Pacific: A Discovery of Taste won the 'Best Photography in the World' award at the World Cookbook Awards in Perigueux, France, as well as a Ladle at the 2001 World Food Media Awards.Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook was named New Zealand’s best celebrity cookbook for 2010 in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
For three years, she was a judge for the International Association of Culinary Professionals'
International Association of Culinary Professionals
The International Association of Culinary Professionals is a United States based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage....
Julia Child
Julia Child
Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...
Award for the best First Cookbook.