A native of Los Angeles, California, L. John Harris studied art at the University of California at Berkeley from 1965-1969. Through the 1970's, while working part time at some of Berkeley's legendary food businesses - the Cheese Board, Chez Panisse and The Swallow café - Harris worked as a journalist and wrote The Book of Garlic (1974) which inspired garlic festivals and garlic theme restaurants from California to New York. In 1981, Harris founded Aris Books, a specialty cookbook publisher and in 1988 launched his Foodoodle cartoon byline in several Bay Area magazines. Harris' most recent illustrated book, Café French: A Flâneur's Guide to the Language, Lore and Food of the Paris Café won the 2019 Paris Book Festival award in the travel book category. Harris lives in Berkeley, California in a 100-year-old Bernard Maybeck-designed residence (Villa Maybeck) that serves as a venue for cultural and musical events, many featuring his collection of historic guitars. He is Curator of the Harris Guitar Collection at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.