T h e f r e e - c o o k. joyful & triumphant/a star in the kitchen

Transcription

1 joyful & riumphan/a sar in he kichen T h e f r e e - r a n g e c o o k Annabel Langbein is hoping her 13-par TeleVision series migh pu New Zealand food and Cenral Oago ono he world sage words lyn barnes PHOTOGRAPHs essa chrisp 98

2 The TV series is all abou having fun cooking for family and friends. Each episode akes viewers on one of Annabel s advenures which include caching crayfish and collecing honey. Once she has gahered all he fresh, seasonal ingrediens, she whips up a feas in he cabin. Annabel has relished he opporuniy o co-produce her own series as she has learned o relax and perform for he camera.... i s abou sharing a simpler way of living wih food ha s easy o prepare and looks wonderful, brough ogeher wih amazing scenery and ha real Kiwi give-i-a- go lifesyle facor ASK TED HEWETSON o describe his wife Annabel Langbein in hree words and wihou hesiaion he proudly saes: Blonde, beauiful and driven. Bu ask Annabel o describe Ted and she simply says he s her rock, for wihou Ted his whirling dervish of energy and inexhausible ideas would probably self-combus. From he momen hey me (a sory in iself see overleaf) Annabel has been running a full hrole, according o Ted. Alhough she has a naurally warm, nururing disposiion, i s obvious wihou sounding corny or clichéd ha her man keeps her on rack and never les her doub herself. He s her bigges fan and she his. Bes of all, Ted makes sure we have fun, says Annabel, who is abou o ake on he world wih her TV series The Free Range Cook. I s her laes projec and she s had loads, from running her own caering company o becoming an inernaional cookbook queen. This is her mos challenging ye which, remarkably, has aken jus over wo years o come o fruiion. Now we re saring o empynes, we decided i was ime o make a concered effor. We were oo busy wih children up unil now, says Ted, who has progressively become more involved in he business. Eigheen-year-old son Sean is ensconced a Triniy College in Melbourne and 16-year-old daugher Rose lives in each week a Auckland s King s College. Annabel admis she s always been career focused and, like many women, has had o juggle home and work. In he early days Ted ran businesses which ofen required him o be ou of Auckland so hey would play ag wih heir projecs, making sure ha someone was always a home wih he children NZ Life & Leisure 101

3 Over he years, as Annabel s workload has become more hecic, Ted has held he for, quiely making money as an invesor. He says his primary role is o care and provide for his family. And when Annabel has headed overseas hree or four imes a year o promoe her burgeoning book-publishing business, Ted has sayed a home and looked afer he children. Now we re a he saring line, he says. We re building a global brand. Annabel has always waned her own gig, raher han being a presener on someone else s show. I m a big-picure person bu iming was everyhing. So i s been non-sop for he pas eigh monhs, working 12 o 15-hour days, puing ogeher he 13-par series which launches wih a prime-ime slo on Channel One in he spring. I can believe all ha ime and effor comes down o 13 episodes, each 22 minues long, says Annabel who admis ha, even for an Energizer bunny, he shooing schedule was gruelling. I doesn show; she s sill buzzing wih exciemen as she cooks breakfas for guess. She chas away, her eenage-like figure dressed in igh-fiing jeans, wih no make-up and bare fee on a cold, winry day. Ted, more han wo meres all, hovers and picks up every cue when help is needed wihou so much as a word or even a look. He can almos read her mind. This is very much he Annabel and Ted show, on and off screen. Bu Ted s role in he series is behind he scenes; he s he business brains. The end resul impressed Fremanle, he disribuion company which discovered Annabel via her YouTube clips, creaed as an ineracive elemen for her Ea Fresh cookbook. Fremanle is he company which spoed he poenial in Jamie Oliver and ook him o he world sage. Huge billboards of he wo sood side by side a he recen Cannes elevision fair where buyers from around he globe socked up on fooage. The focus of The Free Range Cook is on fresh, wholesome food (home-smoked salmon, home-baked bread, fresh cheeses), mos of i gahered locally or grown on he couple s propery on he shores of Lake Wanaka, cooked simply and served wih panache. always a huner-gaherer I was on his Gisborne family farm ha Ted firs encounered he woman who was o become his wife, alhough he had o ask her hree imes before she finally acceped his marriage proposal. In hose days Annabel was a possum rapper. She made enough money from her huning pursuis o buy her firs home. However, on his paricular day she had o hide up a ree as Ted came by wih his dogs, cursing abou bloody rappers. I looked down and saw his guy on a horse and hough, he s cue! Some monhs laer Annabel was flaing wih (unbeknown o her) Ted s siser and cousin when he came o visi one day and she recognized him. Bu i was wo years before I confessed, she laughs. Finally, afer five years of seeing each oher only a couple of imes a year Annabel was based in New York and Ted was working as a ski insrucor in he Unied Saes and Europe he proposed in Buenos Aires in 1987 and she acceped. Annabel has always loved gahering food. Ted recalls early on in heir relaionship when she called ou afer he car ahead of hem hi a pheasan. He hough somehing was wrong bu no, i was jus Annabel waning him o pull over so she could salvage he carcass o cook. Somehing else he couple has in common is heir love of he oudoors. On walks hey come up wih ideas and plan projecs. A one sage we had o limi our walks because of he number of ideas we d come up wih. Boh admi hey re deermined which is why hey know he TV series will do well and ha audiences will appreciae our counry and our food. We ll make sure hey bloody well ge i. I s sho so beauifully i s impossible o resis. They ry no o figh wih each oher because hey know neiher will back down. They ensure hey have qualiy ime ogeher as well as ime for hemselves. We are like wo pillars, explains Ted, who loves his clichés. We re a ag eam. He likes o escape o his Newmarke office. I go o work because his house is always full of people, he says. Along wih he six saff (including a full-ime designer and an accounan) who work on sie, here are ofen phoographers and recipe esers in he es kichen/sudio a heir everexpanding Remuera home NZ Life & Leisure 103

4 Annabel is filmed gahering ingrediens in her rusy Jeep and caching salmon from her boa. Ted loves he fac ha he seasons are so disinc in Cenral Oago you can grow walnus and cherries and enjoy a fire in winer bu i s no dark unil 10.00pm in summer. In ouch wih he land Annabel believes here s somehing inheren in us ha makes us need o ge our hands diry, o ake ime ou and be oudoors. The Wanaka cabin is a he end of a gravel road. She and Ted describe i as an inimae space when he whole family is here. They have planed housands of rees on heir 9.3 hecares and esablished wo huge vegeable gardens. Annabel found ou she was no superwoman he hard way. She says she hi he wall when daugher Rose was wo. Tha was when she closed down he Culinary Insiue, wih is saff of 12, and began producing cookbooks from home. The firs, The Bes of Annabel Langbein published in 1997, sold half a million copies afer she launched i herself in Frankfur. I coninues o be on he bes-seller liss here. She s now wrien and published 15 books which are sold in nine counries and published in eigh languages. You have o nourish yourself, she sresses. Her daily yoga regime wen by he wayside during filming bu hroughou he series she made sure she swam a kilomere every day, even if i was a 9.00pm. The greaes luxury is having ime for yourself, she says. I s filmed on locaion around and a he cabin where Annabel cooks wih wo gas rings and a small, basic oven. Mind you, says Ted, give Annabel a broken knife and a fire and she ll creae somehing delicious. Fremanle iniially asked her o make a pilo wo years ago and pu up mos of he money for i. When she asked he direcors advice on how hey waned her o do i, hey simply said, Jus be you. Annabel couldn have been happier. As he recipien of a markeing developmen gran from New Zealand Trade and Enerprise, she relished he opporuniy o showcase New Zealand s food, wine and lifesyle, using he backdrop and local delicacies of Cenral Oago. TVNZ was as impressed as Fremanle was and came on board as he producion company for he series, filming for which was compleed jus in ime for he annual MIPTV Television Fair in Cannes. I will be a couple of monhs before hey know exacly which channels around he globe will screen The Free Range Cook bu already Fremanle has said he recepion o he programme has exceeded heir expecaions and hings are looking good for Europe and pars of Asia. Alhough many hough Jamie Oliver was a fly-by-nigh, hrough Fremanle he now screens in 126 counries NZ Life & Leisure 105

5 Annabel can spend all day on he waer, going ino a rance while fly-fishing, says Ted. He bough her Frog and Toad, a 1950s-syle boa, for Chrismas las year. Making a meal of a meal No maer wha he meal, eaing in he Heweson-Langbein household is always an occasion, accompanied wih candles. Earlier on he morning of his inerview Ted had cooked porridge for Rose, who had sayed a home for he nigh afer Annabel had been o wach her play hockey, somehing she rarely has a chance o do. Candles are de rigueur, even a breakfas. Annabel, who grew up in Wellingon, has kep up his riual which her moher began. Moher always se a beauiful able, she says fondly. For me, even afer a God-awful day, he high poin is cooking dinner. [When he children are around] we all have differen asks and we cha while we do hem; i s a chance o be creaive. Ted has always encouraged conversaion a he able. The able is he safe place where you can say wha you like. There is a duy o conribue o he conversaion, o have a poin of view, he adds. Annabel knows ha alhough she doesn belong o he youngchef genre ha s currenly popular on TV, she undersands ha i s her knowledge and energy which have impressed he bigwigs a Fremanle. The show is no jus recipes i s abou sharing a simpler way of living wih food ha s easy o prepare and looks wonderful, brough ogeher wih amazing scenery and ha real Kiwi give-i-a-go lifesyle facor, she explains. I ve always had a hing abou puing New Zealand on he map and esablishing our culinary ideniy. We have such high-qualiy food and wine, wih increasing arisan producion and his very sociable lifesyle ha we kind of ake for graned. The self-confessed gypsy has ravelled forever and, inspired by wha she learned, she launched he New Zealand Culinary Insiue almos 23 years ago. One of her firs projecs was he Fresh supermarke campaign. She also worked wih TradeNZ and has organized he New Zealand food for world expos in Seville and Taejon. For seven years she was a company direcor for Kapii Cheese. Currenly she is a direcor on he Susainabiliy Council of New Zealand. For years Annabel has been a gues on NewsalkZB, answering food queries, and has wrien for New Zealand s op magazines including NZ Life & Leisure since he firs issue, he New Zealand Lisener and Cuisine. She wroe for every issue of Cuisine from is launch in 1987 unil Former owner and publisher Julie Dalzell says Annabel always had a sar qualiy abou her. She has a voracious appeie for life, is exremely brigh boh inellecually and socially, is ambiious and driven and exudes charm. I hink i s also her love of advenure and exploraion ha makes her a darned good cook, says Julie. So where o from here? There was cerainly no plan for jus one series; Annabel and Ted are hoping for more like five, eigh or maybe even 10. If anyone raises he bar, i will be Annabel; she always wans o jump higher, says Ted wih a smile NZ Life & Leisure 107