THESSALONIKI – The popular TV chef and cookbook author Vefa Alexiadou, known as Greece’s ‘national chef,’ passed away at the age of 91 in a Thessaloniki hospital, according to media reports on November 25.
Alexiadou rose to fame in the 1990s, when her television career took off on ANT1 TV. She hosted popular cooking shows that made her a household name in Greece and wherever Greeks live around the world.
Beyond her television career, she authored several highly acclaimed cookbooks, two of which received prestigious awards in 1998 and 2000 at the International Cookbook Exhibition in Perigueux, France. With easy-to-follow recipes, Alexiadou’s cookbooks, published in Greek and various other languages, including English, became indispensable to all those who love Greek cuisine. Among the many cookbooks were volumes that focused on cooking for specific holidays, like Christmas, and on nistisima recipes for fasting periods.
Following the 2009 release of Vefa’s Kitchen, published by Phaidon and featuring hundreds of authentic Greek recipes in English, Alexiadou appeared on a cooking segment on The Martha Stewart Show in 2010, demonstrating classic Greek recipes, lamb giouvetsi baked in the oven, and galaktoboureko.
Alexiadou’s cookbooks and her autobiography are available in bookstores and on her website: https://vefaalexiadou.gr/.
Alexiadou was honored many times throughout her career internationally, including on May 28, 2023, in Umea, Sweden at the Gourmand Awards, where she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Born in Volos on March 19, 1933, Alexiadou was a chemist and dietitian by profession. A graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she pursued specialized studies in the United States focusing on food hygiene, table decoration, and modern culinary arts.
She was married to Professor Konstantinos Alexiadis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who passed away in 2006. The couple had two daughters, Alexia and Angela, who tragically passed away within months of each other in 2014 and 2015.
