Real life with John Cowan. 2012-11-04. 20:00 - 21:00, Annabel Langbein.

Real Life with John Cowan is a weekly nationwide chat show, featuring a different high-profile guest every week. John talks with them about their life, their upbringing, their passions and their view of the world. And when appropriate, John and his guest chat about faith, spirituality and "God-stuff". Tonights guest is Annabel Langbein.

Annabel Langbein grew up with a father who would arrive home from work each night to tend his vegetable garden, and a mother who was a natural cook and home science university graduate. Understandably, these skills have been passed on and Annabel is now known as New Zealand’s Free Range Cook.

As a teenager, Annabel considered herself a fully-fledged hippy and feminist. She left home at sixteen and took off with a bunch of friends to ‘live off the land’ near the Whanganui River. They grew their own vegetables and hunted and fished for their own food. Annabel spent much of this time experimenting with her cooking.

On her return to the ‘real world’, Annabel started cooking for a friend who was a chef in Gisborne. Later, she became a food writer for several magazines including NZ Life and Leisure, NZ Listener and Cuisine.
In 1991, Annabel established the Culinary Institute of New Zealand where she looked after media and marketing campaigns for New Zealand food manufacturers, retailers, and exporters. She was also a director for The New Zealand Gourmet Cheese Company for seven years.

Annabel has authored eighteen cookbooks and fronts her own television show, Annabel Langbein, The Free Range Cook. She is married to Ted Hewetson and has two grown children.