LAURAINE JACOBS is an internationally respected food and wine writer and author/editor of nine cookbooks. Trained at the London Cordon Bleu School she has been writing on all matters culinary for more than 25 years, starting as food editor of Fashion Quarterly in the late 1980s, before becoming food editor for Cuisine until 2009. Her bestselling book, The Confident Cook, is a much-loved book in many New Zealand homes. She edited A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, which has raised more than $50,000 in royalties for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The New Zealand Vegetable Cookbook, co-authored with Ginny Grant and Kathy Paterson was released in 2010, while her most recent book was Everlasting Feast, published in 2013. A passionate cook and lover of simply presented fresh food, she has won many food and recipe writing awards including two Gold Ladles at the World Food Media Awards. A tireless champion of the New Zealand fine culinary scene, especially small artisan producers, regional specialty foods and farmers' markets throughout the country, she was the major contributor to the Gold Ladle-winning Cuisine Wine Country. Lauraine accepted an MNZM in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2009 for services to the food industry. She lives in Auckland and continues to be passionate about the amazing culinary possibilities for this country's food and wine. Her dream is that New Zealand becomes an internationally recognised food-tourism destination.