Key Lime Desserts : Famous Recipes From Famous Places (Famous Florida)

Joyce LaFray, one of Florida's s premier food experts, is an author of more than 20 books including Cuba Cocina,! The Tantalizing Flavors of Cuba, Tropic Cooking: The Cuisine of Florida & the Caribbean and The Guide to Florida s Best Restaurants. Since 1974, she has been restaurant critic, lecturer, editor, book publisher and consultant for the ever-evolving restaurant scene. She is a consummate world traveler and ontributor to Bon Appetit Magazine, the St. Petersburg Times, Where Magazine and Gourmet Retailer. She served as food and wine editor for nationally syndicated Creative Loafing, as well as numerous newspapers and magazines. When food writers from New York City and other popular food locations visit Florida, they call Joyce for advice on which restaurants to visit and which foods to sample. Her many culinary talents have played major roles in the organization and success of well known events including The Tampa Tribune's Taste of Florida; Macy's popular statewide, Chef's Tour, Miami's International Book Fair (Epicure Row founder), and the national Kahlua Bake-off held in Miami. Corporately, she has been radio talent for Goldkist (Young and Tender Chicken) and TV talent for Appleton Rum Publix Supermarket and Meyer s Goat Milk. She has been publisher for FOX-TV s popular travel guide series, FOX-TV S One Tank Trips since 1997.

Joyce is a member of the Bay Area Professional Writers, City of Writers, is a charter member of the Publishers Association of the South, a member of the International Society of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation , the Confrerie De La Chaine Des Rotisseurs and many others.

She is an avid supporter of the Louise Graham Regeneration Center in Tampa Bay for adults with disabilities.Her interest in the culinary arts started early in her life with the influence of her mother, a high school home economics teacher and her father, an IBM executive, a self-proclaimed expert on Dagwood sandwiches.

She attended the University of Loyola in Rome, Italy and received her Bachelor s Degree in Education from the University of Dayton in Ohio with a minor in English.

She has worked extensively in radio and TV as a regional sales manager, radio representative and on-air talent, including host of Tropic Cooking, a Tampa Bay food show, and Eat It! a call in radio show by WQYK. Presently, Joyce serves as President of Seaside Publishing, a division of Famous Florida!® Enterprises