About the Forays

About Laurence

I can't remember not cooking.

I grew up in Northern France, in a family where everybody cooked. My first job was shelling peas.
I must have been around three years old. Then I learned how to clean lettuce and peel apples.
I took my first baking class in first grade. I distinctly recall wondering who invented mayonnaise – we always made our own,
and who thought of turning egg whites into meringue – very difficult to achieve in a rainy climate, by the way,
because the eggs won’t dry properly.
I was passionate about fresh, local, seasonal foods long before they became fashionable.

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I love to share the seasonality, the spontaneity, the spirit of adventure that come from returninghome with
an armload of produce I didn't know I was going to buy. I am like a kid in a candy store at the market.
So many things look good, I want them all.
---I am a good cook, not a chef. I bring playfulness to the craft of cooking.

My daughter is my best student and assistant

I have cooked in a restaurant, but I much prefer the intimacy of cooking in a home, because you can indulge in a handcrafted,
one-of- a-kind experience, rather than having to serve the same dish faithfully everyday.
More than technical knowledge, it is the spirit of delight in the magic of cooking
that I want you to retain from our time together.
Because if it isn't fun, no matter how competent you become, you still won't want to cook.
Few aspects of food and wine in our area are secret from me.
I am the leader of the Slow Food Santa Barbara Convivium, and the Food & Wine Editor for Food & Home magazine.
I wrote a weekly food column for the Santa Barbara Independent for over a decade.
I directed the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association, and pioneered the concept of an organic beach grill.
My writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Gastronomica, and Saveur Magazine.
Santa Barbara has been my home since 1983. When I am not writing, cooking, or leading a culinary tour I assist in the operations of Penryn Orchard Specialties, a small, highly diversified orchard in the foothills of the Sierras.

 To reserve your space for an upcoming foray or to arrange a private event just for your group,
please call Laurence Hauben at 259-7229, or e-mail Laurence