Los Angeles Times Popular 'Quick Fix' Food Column Goes Video and Online at Latimes.com.

Lifestyle/Food Editors & Technology Writers

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 11, 2001

The Los Angeles Times has taken its popular "Quick Fix" weekly Wednesday recipe column to the World Wide Web via an online video version now available at www.latimes.com/quickfix.

Quick Fix is the first Times' Food column to be expanded into a multimedia feature, and makes The Times one of the few U.S. newspapers now offering an online video recipe series.

Both the print and online versions of Quick Fix offer complete easy-to-make meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less. The weekly Quick Fix video -- available in both Real Player and Quick Time formats -- is a two-minute, easy-to-follow version of the print column and includes step-by-step cooking instructions as well as printable text versions of the recipes. Videos will be archived indefinitely.

The Quick Fix Web video series, photographed by Times editorial photographers, is produced jointly by The Times' Food section, latimes.com and The Times' media production unit.

The first two Quick Fix videos will feature two summer-time favorites: meaty barbecue ribs and lemon pasta. Future segments will focus on ethnic cuisine, new recipe ideas for traditional staples, seasonal produce, desserts, and holiday entertaining.

Times' Test Kitchen Director Donna Deane will host each segment. Deane served as test kitchen director for the Chicago Tribune before joining The Times in 1980. She is the author of "The Low-Fat Kitchen," co-author of "Simply Healthful Cakes" and a contributor to "Modern California Cooking." She holds a bachelor's degree in food and nutrition from the University of Wisconsin.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," said Deane, "but when it comes to cooking, a picture is worth 10 times that. It's one thing to read a recipe calling for a liquid to emulsify and another to see what it actually looks while it's cooking. That's where the Quick Fix online video series comes in."

"Every year, we test 600-700 recipes, with only the best-tasting ones appearing in the weekly Food section. Our Quick Fix recipes not only meet this taste test but their preparation is also timed to ensure they're fast and easy to make," said Deane. "That's the value we bring to our readers and that's why Quick Fix is one of the Food section's most popular features. What the video version of Quick Fix allows us to do is extend this value to an entirely new audience -- one that's only a click away."

The Times is one of the few newspapers in the U.S. operating an in-house test kitchen. Its 800-square-foot, professionally designed kitchen was completed in May 2001, and includes two fully equipped parallel kitchens -- one traditional in design and the other more contemporary.

The Times' online Food section also features PDF versions of the printed Food section as well as reader reviews, best-selling cookbook lists, food and recipe boards, restaurant listings and a directory of certified farmers markets.

The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing company, is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country and winner of 25 Pulitzer Prizes. It publishes four daily regional editions covering the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Fernando Valley, and Orange and Ventura counties as well as an Inland Valley section and a National Edition.