Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan argues that never have so many people eaten so well, so safely, and so healthfully, a position she supports with research, international kitchen experience, and a farming background. She is author of the multiply-reprinted “A Plea for Culinary Modernism: Why We Should Love Fast, Modern, Processed Food” (2001) and two prize-winning food histories, Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History (2013) and The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage (1996). She is a popular speaker with food professionals as well as academic and general audiences. In a former career she was a recognized academic historian with a Ph.D from University College London. She specialized in the history of science and technology, holding appointments at American research universities and receiving grants from Fulbright, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Rachel grew up on dairy and wheat farm in England. She has seized the opportunity the academic life gave her to cook in England, France, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, as well as the United States. After fifteen years in Mexico, she and her husband now live in Austin, Texas.