Johann Lafer
Austrian chef based in Germany, television presenter and author of numerous cookbooks
Biography
Johann Lafer (born 27 September 1957) is an Austrian chef who built most of his career in Germany. He became known mainly through his television cooking show and a long series of cookbooks, which made him one of the most recognisable faces of cooking in German-speaking media.
The show is self-produced, which is unusual for television cooking programmes. For years he was a regular guest of the presenter Markus Lanz, preparing dishes in front of the studio audience. Alongside this broadcasting work, Lafer runs a cooking school in Guldental, the village where he lives with his wife Silvia and their two children.
In 1997 the Gault Millau guide named him Chef of the Year, and in 2006 the Michelin Guide awarded him a star. He also launched a pilot project for healthy eating in schools, called food@ucation. His legacy is tied to popularising cooking on German television and to culinary education rather than to a single technical innovation.
Key contributions
- Self-produced cooking show on German television
- Bestselling cookbooks
- Chef of the Year according to Gault Millau (1997)
- Michelin star (2006)
- Pilot healthy-eating project in schools, food@ucation
- Cooking school in Guldental