Judy Rodgers was born on October 28, 1956. As a 16-year-old exchange student in France, she stayed with the family of Jean Troisgros, who happened to run Les Fr�res Troisgros, a restaurant in Roanne. There she absorbed a culture in which ingredients, cooking and eating were venerated. She received a degree in art history from Stanford University in 1978. After graduating, she started cooking lunches at Chez Panisse in Berkeley with no formal training. Thus began her career as a chef. After working in restaurants in Italy, France, and New York, she ended up at Zuni Caf� in 1987. She wrote The Zuni Caf� Cookbook in 2002. She died of appendix cancer on December 2, 2013 at the age of 57.