Bernarda Seitz
Argentine nun, cook, writer and television presenter
Biography
María Bernarda Seitz, born Florentina Seitz and known as La Hermana Bernarda (Sister Bernarda), was an Argentine Roman Catholic nun who became one of the most recognisable faces of culinary television in her country during the 2000s. Her programmes centred on German-origin recipes, prepared simply and with careful use of ingredients.
She was born on 19 June 1927 in General Acha, into a family of Volga Germans. Her childhood moved between La Pampa and Coronel Suárez, and later on her father's farmland in the south of Córdoba Province. In 1943 she joined the Sisters of the Holy Cross, taking the name María Bernarda in honour of the congregation's founder. Years later she trained in cooking in Germany and Switzerland, the land of her family's origins.
From 2000 she rose to fame with Dulces Tentaciones (Sweet Temptations) on Elgourmet.com. She filmed in the kitchen of her own convent, with no set, and the show became popular enough to be repeated several times a day. She then moved to free-to-air television with her own programme on América 2, and appeared on other channels too. Her book 100 recetas: cocina y meditación was one of Argentina's bestsellers in 2003. She spoke about God without tying him to a particular religion, which sparked debate. She died on 16 June 2014 in Quilmes, aged 86, from a stroke. Her legacy lives on in her books and in the memory of the viewers who followed her programmes.
Key contributions
- Dulces Tentaciones (Sweet Temptations), a simple German-style cooking show that made her famous on Elgourmet.com.
- Saladas Tentaciones (Savory Temptations), the second series, focused on savoury dishes.
- 100 recetas: cocina y meditación, a book that paired recipes with personal reflections and became a publishing success.
- The popularisation of traditional Volga German cooking on Spanish-language television.
- A model of low-cost home cooking that made the most of available ingredients.