Lori Rice has spent her career following food back to where it comes from. A cookbook author, recipe developer, and food photographer, she came to the kitchen through the science first, earning a BS in Family and Consumer Sciences from Purdue University and an MS in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Kentucky. She started out in public health and agriculture, but it was the stories behind the food that eventually pulled her toward writing and photography.
Growing up in Indiana and later living in Kentucky gave Lori her start. Three years in southern Brazil, followed by travels to more than 30 countries, mostly in search of great food and drink, opened her eyes to how much of a culture you can taste. Since then, she's settled into Central California, moving from the Bay Area to the Central Valley and now the Central Coast, where growers, wine makers, and brewers are never far away.
Lori is the author and photographer of three cookbooks from The Countryman Press: Food on Tap: Cooking with Craft Beer, Beer Bread, and The California Farm Table Cookbook. In 2019, her writing earned an International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Food Writing Award. Her stories and recipes have appeared in Sift, Edible San Luis Obispo, Edible San Joaquin Valley, and Hobby Farms, and she currently writes a recipe column for Chickens magazine.
Through her creative content company, Fake Food Free Productions, Lori works with food and drink brands, publishers, and agriculture organizations, including the California Fig Advisory Board, National Onion Association, and the California Agriculture Export Council. She develops recipes, styles them, and photographs them to capture the moments around food.
That same curiosity goes into the recipes she shares at King Arthur, each one tested in her home studio kitchen. She believes the best recipes carry a bit of the place and people they came from, and she hopes yours brings a little of that to your table.
