ARTICLES/ANTHOLOGIES

I've written for many national magazines, including O the Oprah Magazine, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Salon.com, Vogue, Glamour, Self, Marie Claire, Mother Jones, Vogue, Mode, the San Francisco Examiner magazine, the New York Times Magazine, the Industry Standard, Mirabella, the Progressive, and others. I've been a contributing editor at Health, Good Housekeeping, and now at More.

 

Favorites:

 

"A Tree Grows in the Haight Ashbury," San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, March 23, 2008. E ssay about raising a redwood tree in the Haight for 25 years.

 

"Food from the Heart,"Eating Well, January/February 2007. Essay about eating dinner at Chez Panisse with a friend the day after my husband left me. Finalist for the Bert Greene Award for Essays from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP.com)

 

"Coffee, and Hope, Grow in Rwanda," The New York Times, Sunday, August 6, 2006, Business Section.

 

“Why I stopped being a vegetarian,” Salon.com
http://archive.salon.com/travel/food/feature/2000/01/07/vegetarian/index1.html
Best American Food Writing, 2001

 

"An Affair to Remember," Gourmet, January, 2004. Home to rocky shorelines and an active volcano, Italy's Lipari Islands may not seduce you from the start, but just give them some time.

 

“Italy's Sex Slaves, Salon.com, July 3, 2003. Young women from Africa and Eastern Europe are lured to Italy with the promise of good jobs and a new life. But when they get there they are beaten, raped and forced into prostitution.

 

 

Here are some recent places where my byline has appeared:

 

"Made in Mexico," More, August 2007. The artist little town of San Miguel de Allende has become a reinvention destination for scores of midlife women. Laura Fraser falls under its spell.

 

"Suburban Hottentot,"The Big Ugly Review, June, 2007; another version is in The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 20 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image, and Other hazards of Being Female, edited by Samantha Schoech and Lisa Taggart.

 

 

"Next Stop Lima,"Gourmet, August, 2006. With Peruvians returning home after years of eating and cooking abroad, the country's cuisine is more cosmopolitan than ever. And you thought Paris was the culinary center of the world. This story is about going to Peru with my friend Guillermo Payet, to explore his native cuisine.

Guillermo has a website devoted to family farms, called localharvest.org.

 

"Around the World in a Dozen Dates," More, May, 2006. Can a 45-year-old Californian find true love among the single men of Sydney, the bachelors of Buenos Aires, or the not-so-married men of Rome? We went Laura Fraser to three cities with one mission in mind: Date like crazy--then kiss and tell.

 

"Days of Wine and Noses," The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review. Review of three books on the rise of American vintages, July 31, 2005.

 

"Running from Depression," More, June, 2006. Alone or in combination with drugs and talk therapy, exercise is proving itself to be an effective treatment for depression, especially for women in midlife. Profile of Mothers Across America, and its founder, Charlotte Gould: mothersacrossamerica.com.

 

"What I Need is a Pause Button," O, the Oprah Magazine, May, 2005. "Her speed was 110 rpm, her urges now-now-now. Then Laura Fraser got a fast-acting fix for impulsiveness."

 

"Italy's Alcatraz," Islands, March 2005. Once a prison, now a national park, Asinara is an island of empty beaches and reclaimed nature.

 

"Party in your Pantry," A different version of this appeared in the October, 2004 Organic Style.

 

"Ski Memorial," in SKIING, September 2004. This is in memory of my childhood friend Mike Sides.

 

"Bouncing into Graceland, Yoga Journal (cover story), July 2004. A look at why John Friend's Anusara Yoga is a wildly successful--and uniquely American--phenomenon.

 

"Is this drug a cure or killer?," Self, April 2004. A Tragic death has brought calls to ban the abortion pill. But women taking it to treat illness say it's saving their lives.
Winner,2005 Excellence in Women's Health Research Journalism Award

 

 

“The Islands Where Boys Grow Up to be Girls,” Marie Claire, December, 2002. In the South pacific, the fa'afafine--men who spend their lives as women--turn gender roles upside down.

 

“Jailhouse Talk ,” Mother Jones, September/October, 2002.
On Friday nights, prisoners across Texas tune in to hear the voice of a gay ex-con and--just maybe--a message from home. Ray Hill uses his weekly Prison Show to reach out to inmates and expose corrupt prison officials.

 

“The New Breast Cancer Hot Zone,” Organic Style, September/October, 2002.
Stricken with the country’s highest rate of breast cancer, the women of Marin County, California, are asking hard questions about toxins in the environment.

 

“Seattle’s Belltown,” Bon Appetit, September, 2002.
Food review of Seattle’s trendy Belltown district, the town’s new gastronomic center.

 

“My Mother, the Adventurer,” O, the Oprah Magazine, July, 2002.
Some daughters inherit their mother’s cheekbones. Laura Fraser inherited an audacious I-can-do-that spirit. And then there was her grandmother…

 

“My Ex-Boyfriend Became a Woman,” Marie Claire, June, 2002.
The story of how a college friend of mine became transgendered, and how it changed our friendship. I hate the headline on this story, partly because he was never my boyfriend, just a good friend—and she remains a good friend.

 

“The Filicudi Effect,” Bon Appetit, May, 2002.
Everything tastes good when you live life in slow motion. On an island off Sicily, writer Laura Fraser discovers the importance of doing…nothing.

Chosen for the Best American Food Writing 2002 anthology

 

  “The Great Caper,” O, the Oprah magazine, September, 2001
Tangy, elusive, slightly salty, these little green buds pep up your palate. Laura Fraser pays tribute to a mainstay of Italian cuisine.

 

  “The Art of the Getaway,” O, the Oprah magazine, July, 2001
-Some people have a talent for travel. They can sniff out the little jewel of a hotel, the great (cheap!) restaurant, and the intersting strangers. Excape artist Laura Fraser gets you ready to hit the road.

 

  “The Food of Love,” Elle, June, 2001.Can ex-lovers still be friends? They can in Oaxaca, home of cuisine so exotic it’s erotic.

 

  “Star Reporter,” San Francisco Magazine, June, 2001.
For two decades, we’ve relished Frank Viviano’s dispatches from hot spots around the globe. Now, with a new book about the Mafia and a long-ago murder in his own family, the Chronicle’s foreign correspondent is set to become a pretty big story himself.

 

  “Did It Happen or Not,” the Spectator, June 28, 2001, cover story.
Investigating child abuse: Four cases

 

  “Stepping off the mommy track,” Health, May 2001
Essay on letting go of the idea of having children.

 

  “Inner Fitness,” Mode, May, 2001
Getting into shape isn’t all about sweating buckets and feeling the burn. It’s about learning to see your body in a whole new way.

 

 “Stay slim secrets of women who eat what they want,” Self, December, 1999.
Self goes to Paris to learn how the Western world’s thinnest women get away with eating and drinking as they please.

 

“The French Paradox,” Salon.com
http://archive.salon.com/travel/food/feature/2000/02/04/paradox/

 

  “Once Upon a  Time in the Sinai Desert,” Salon.com
http://archive.salon.com/travel/feature/1999/06/26/desert/

 

  “Don’t Eat, Don’t Tell,” Self, October, 1999
Female cadets in the U.S.  military are increasingly falling victim to the same eating disorders that plague their civilian counterparts. Is it the strict weight guidelines? The peer pressure? The demanding instructors? And what does their silent struggle tell us about ourselves?

 

  “Suddenly Rich,” The Industry Standard, December 6, 1999 (cover story).
Internet execs dream of the big score. But when the money comes, it can be a mixed blessing.

 

  “Coffee Wars,” San Francisco Examiner Magazine, August 1, 1999 (cover)
Laura Fraser on the Great Starbuck Invasion
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1999/08/01/MAGAZINE13027.dtl&hw=Laura+Fraser&sn=008&sc=727

“The Hard Body Sell,” Mother Jones, April 1999
The cosmetic surgery industry has long preyed on women’s body-image insecurities. Now it’s targeting the other 49 percent.

 

Anthologies

“How to Dress Like a Cowgirl," It's So You: 35 Women Write About Personal Expression Through Fashion and Style," edited by Michelle Tea (Seal Press, 2007).

"Suburban Hottentot," The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on beauty, body image and other hazards of being female, edited by Samantha Schoech & Lisa Taggart (Seal Press, 2007). San Francisco Chronicle bestseller.

"Mifepristone," Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice, edited by Krista Jacob (Seal Press, 2006).

"The Food of Love,” Mexico, a Love Story, edited by Camille Cusumano (Seal Press, 2006).

“My Last Two-Night Stand,” Single Women of a Certain Age, edited by Jane Ganahl (Inner Ocean Publishing, 2005).

“An Affair to Remember,” Italy, A Love Story, edited by Camille Cusumano (Seal Press, 2005).

“Where Boys Grow Up to Be Girls,” The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2005, edited by Lucy McCauley (Travelers’ Tales, 2005).

“Serendipity,” The Kindness of Strangers, edited by Don George, (Lonely Planet, 2003).

“Stepping Off the Mommy Track,” Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick, edited by Autumn Stephens (Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004).

“The Filicudi Effect,” Best Food Writing 2002, edited by Hully Hughes (Marlowe & Company, 2002).

“Why I Stopped Being a Vegetarian,” Best Food Writing 2000, edited by Holly Hughes (Marlowe & Company, 2000).

“Italian Affair,” Salon.com’s Wanderlust: Real-life Tales of Adventure and Romance, edited by Don George (Villard, 2000).

“A Camel Ride in Sinai,” Women Travel, edited by Natnia Jansz and Miranda Davies, (Prentice Hall Travel, 1990).

“Self-Hate and Rejection,”Feeding the Hungry Heart, Geneen Roth, editor (Signet, 1982)

 

 

 

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