Veronica Volny. Veronica's memory maps her rather peregrine history mostly in terms of food. Ask her what it was like to spend childhood summers in Vallauris, Provence, and you'll hear not about the beach, but about pan bagnat sandwiches. Ask about her family in Prague, and she'll tell you first about the apple strudel they make. Ask about high-school in Bavaria, and you'll hear all about biergartens, sausages, and exotic preparations of pork.
When she finished high-school in Munich, she moved to California to study biology. While completing her Ph.D. at Stanford and later at U.C. Berkeley doing a postdoc in marine population genetics, Veronica organized and taught courses at the Vermilion Sea Field Station, on the Sea of Cortez. Ask her about that, and you will, in fact, hear about whales and sea turtles—but she's also sure to mention La Pasadita, the roadside fish taco stand you have to visit in San Quintín, on your way down the Baja Peninsula.
In Berkeley, Veronica lived wonderfully close to several farmers’ markets—and dangerously close to Chez Panisse—and by the time she moved to Boulder, she decided it was finally time to turn her lifelong passion and avocation into vocation. With her husband, Aaron Hirsh, co-conspirator, China Tresemer, and master sommelier, Nate Ready, she founded Meadow Lark Farm Dinners.