Annabel Langbein

Annabel Rose Langbein ONZM (born 1958) is a New Zealand celebrity cook, food writer and publisher. She has published 25 cookbooks and fronted three seasons of her TV series, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, which launched on the TV One network in New Zealand and has since screened in more than 90 countries.

Langbein in 2018

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 was a cook and home science university graduate. She credits her mother as the inspiration for her cooking. Langbein met husband Ted while working as a possum trapper on his family's farm on the East Cape of New Zealand.[1][2]

Life

As a teenager in the 1970s, Langbein says she was a fully-fledged hippie 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 River 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 cooking skills through endless experimentation.[3]

She started to cook for a living when she went to Gisborne to work as a chef in a friend's restaurant. But she soon realised that she didn't want to cook the same food every day and used the opportunity to save money for an overseas experience. She travelled the world experimenting with different flavours but got sick in South America and ended up living in Brazil for a year and starting her own croissant business there. She eventually made her way back to New Zealand.[2][4]

A life-threatening experience in the 1980s, when she was thrown from a horse and given virtually no chance of walking again, reinforced for Langbein the importance of safeguarding her wellness and making the most of each day. She experienced a ‘eureka’ moment when she realised she could change people's lives by sharing her knowledge of cooking and eating well, and confounded the doctors by making a complete recovery.

She and Ted now live on the shores of Lake Wanaka, in New Zealand's spectacular Southern Alps, where over more than 20 years they have transformed a patch of boggy bush into extensive gardens and orchards.

Career

Langbein has never formally trained as a chef, but has a Diploma of Horticulture with Distinction from Lincoln University in New Zealand and has attended residential cooking courses at the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York.[1][3][5]

Since 1984 she has worked as a food writer, writing for several magazines including The New Zealand Herald's Canvas magazine,[6] NZ Life & Leisure, NZ Listener and Cuisine,[7] as well as writing and publishing her own cookbooks. She has appeared on The Today Show in the US, Saturday Kitchen in the UK, 24Kitchen in The Netherlands and numerous other media outlets.

Books

Langbein self-published her first book of recipes 1988, and has since built one of New Zealand's most successful publishing houses, Annabel Langbein Media. She has authored and self-published 25 cookbooks, which have been published in numerous languages and sold more than two million copies all around the world. The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives, was published in 1997, has been reprinted numerous times since and is known as “the kitchen bible” in many New Zealand households. Her 2010 book The Free Range Cook was available in more than 70 countries and sold more than 110,000 copies.[7][8][9]

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[7] and for three years she was a judge for the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Julia Child Award for the best first cookbook.[10]

Her philanthropic work has included raising substantial sums for the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand, Autism New Zealand and other charity groups.

Television

UK-based global content company FremantleMedia first noticed Langbein's presenting skills in 2008, when she posted on YouTube a series of how-to cooking features that she had made to promote her book Eat Fresh.[1] They approached her and offered to back her to produce a fully fledged TV series.

In August 2010, New Zealand's TV One debuted her show, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, a 13-part cooking and lifestyle series filmed at Langbein's cabin on the shores of Lake Wanaka and showcasing New Zealand's scenery and artisanal produce. 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,[11] but she has since co-produced two further seasons of the show.

The series has been distributed worldwide by FremantleMedia, and has appeared on the ABC and SBS networks in Australia and other networks in France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Israel, UK, Canada, Asia, Brazil and Japan.[11] In Brazil the show airs on the GNT cable channel under the translated title A Cozinha Caseira de Annabel (Annabel's Homemade Cooking).[12]

Year Programme Episodes Duration
2010 Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook 13 episodes 30 minutes
2012 Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures 13 episodes 30 minutes
2014 Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Through the Seasons 13 episodes 30 minutes

Honours

Langbein's books and TV series have won numerous national and international awards. In February 2016 she won the People's Choice Award for Best Home Chef in a TV Series at the US-based Taste Awards.

Her books have won Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for Best Entertaining Cookbook, Best Easy Recipes Cookbook and Best Celebrity Cookbook. In 2013 she won NZ Guild of Food Writers Culinary Quills for best website, best TV series and best book, and in 2014 she won Best Culinary Series and Best Presenter at the Best on the Box People's Choice Awards. The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives won the 1999 New Zealand 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 Périgueux, France, as well as a Ladle at the 2001 World Food Media Awards.[13]

In 2008, Langbein was inducted into the Wellington Girls' College Business Hall of Fame, and in 2013 she received New Zealand's most prestigious individual achievement award, a World Class New Zealand Award. Langbein was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree by Lincoln University in 2017.[14]

In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Langbein was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a food writer.[15]

Bibliography
  • Annabel Langbein's Cookbook: Featuring Recipes from the New Zealand Listener (ISBN 0-908829-00-0, 1988)
  • Smart Food for Busy People: Stylish Food for New Zealanders (ISBN 9780-4730-2228-0, 1993)
  • More Taste Than Time: Fast Track Food for Busy People (1994)
  • With Fork & Spoon: Easy Imaginative Food for Time-Hungry People (ISBN 0-473-03976-1, 1996)
  • The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives (ISBN 9780-9582-0290-9, 1999)
  • Savour the Pacific: A Discovery of Taste (ISBN 9780-9582-0292-3, 2000)
  • Savour Italy: A Discovery of Taste (ISBN 9780-9582-0293-0, 2001)
  • Cooking to Impress Without Stress (ISBN 9780-9582-0295-4, 2003)
  • Assemble: Sensational Food Made Easy (ISBN 9780-9582-0299-2, 2005)
  • Desserts: New Healthy Kitchen – Colorful Recipes for Health and Well-Being (ISBN 9780-7432-7860-7, 2006)
  • Grilling: New Healthy Kitchen – Colorful Recipes for Health and Well-Being (ISBN 9781-7408-9611-5, 2007)
  • Eat Fresh: Cooking Through the Seasons (ISBN 9780-9582-0297-8, 2007)
  • Celebrate: A Calendar of Cakes for Special Dates (ISBN 9780-9582-0296-1, 2008)
  • Anyone Can Cook: Fresh Ideas for Busy Lives (ISBN 9780-9582-6680-2, 2009)
  • Anyone Can Bake: Home Baked Treats Made Easy (ISBN 9780-9582-6683-3, 2010)
  • Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook (ISBN 9780-9582-6684-0, 2010)
  • Annabel Langbein Free Range in the City (ISBN 978-0-9582668-5-7, 2011)
  • Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures (ISBN 978-0-9582668-6-4, 2012)
  • Annabel Langbein A Free Range Life (2013)
  • Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Through the Seasons (ISBN 978-0-9582668-7-1, 2014)
  • Annabel Langbein Winter Goodness (2015)
  • Annabel Langbein Endless Summer (2015)
  • Annabel Langbein Share the Love (2016)
  • Annabel Langbein Celebrate Summer! (2016)
  • ESSENTIAL Annabel Langbein (ISBN 978-0-9582668-9-5, 2017)
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References
  1. Fraser, Fiona. "ANNABEL LANGBEIN'S FREE-RANGE FAMILY". New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  2. "Kiwi celebrity chef: Annabel Langbein". Tourism New Zealand. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  3. "annabel's story". Annabel Langbein Media. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
  4. King, Michelle (January 2008). "her inspiration – Cooking up a Storm". Stretton Publishing Co Ltd.
  5. "More on Annabel". TVNZ. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  6. Bruce, Greg (18 June 2016). "The rise and rise of Annabel Langbein". Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  7. Barnes, Lyn (July 2010). "The free-range cook" (PDF). NZ Life & Leisure.
  8. "Annabel Langbein Media Limited". Made From New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  9. "Authors write their own paycheques". APN Holdings NZ Limited. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  10. "Cookbook Awards". International Association of Culinary Professionals. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  11. Pattison, Catherine. "Showing off Central Otago". Allied Press Limited. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  12. (Portuguese). "a cozinha caseira de annabel". Globosat Programadora Ltda. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  13. "Culinary Quills Awards". New Zealand Guild of Food Writers. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  14. "Former honorary doctorate recipients". Lincoln University. 2018. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  15. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2018". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
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