Laurie Ochoa is general manager of Food at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she was a deputy editor in Entertainment and Arts.
Ochoa’s history with The Times goes back to 1988 and, notably, from 1993-99 she was Food editor. She then moved to New York to become executive editor of Gourmet magazine. She has won two James Beard Awards for her food writing, and the cookbook she co-wrote, “Nancy Silverton’s Breads From the La Brea Bakery,” was nominated for an IACP Julia Child Cookbook Award and a James Beard Cookbook Award. She returned to Southern California as editor in chief of the L.A. Weekly, which won more national journalism awards during her stewardship than any other alternative newsweekly – including the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Ochoa then co-founded and edited Slake: Los Angeles, a journal of narrative reporting, essays, fiction, art and poetry. Before returning to The Times in 2012, she also served as an interim editor of the Hollywood Reporter.
L.A. Times Food includes ongoing coverage at latimes.com/food and in the L.A. Times app; regular reporting in the paper’s Weekend section; the Cooking and Tasting Notes newsletters; video series such as “What We’re Into,” “Off Menu With Lucas Peterson” and “The Bucket List With Jenn Harris”; and the annual 101 Best Restaurants guide. In addition, Times food coverage extends to its signature food festivals, including Food Bowl and the 101 Best Restaurants launch party, as well as other live events, video projects and radio appearances throughout the year. The Times recently completed construction on a state-of-the-art test kitchen and studio, “The Kitchen at the Los Angeles Times,” which will serve as a hub for recipe development and video production.
