{{Short description|Italian-American writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox writer | name = Luisa Weiss | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1977}} | birth_place = West Berlin, West Germany | nationality = Italian-American | awards = | occupation = Writer | notable_works = ''My Berlin Kitchen'' (2012)<br />''Classic German Baking'' (2016) | website = {{URL|luisaweiss.com}} }} '''Luisa Weiss''' (born 1977) is an Italian-American<ref name="The Wednesday Chef bio" /> writer based in Berlin. Weiss was employed as a literary scout and cookbook editor in New York where, in 2005, she started the food blog The Wednesday Chef. She has written two books—the memoir ''My Berlin Kitchen'' (2012) and the well-received cookbook ''Classic German Baking'' (2016).
== Biography == Luisa Weiss was born in West Berlin in 1977.<ref name="My Berlin Kitchen">{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Luisa |title=My Berlin Kitchen: Adventures in Love and Life |date=2013 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |isbn=9781322796086}}</ref>{{rp|p=2|quote=I was born in Berlin in 1977, back when it was still known as West Berlin.}} Her Italian mother, Letizia Cosentino Weiss, worked as a translator. Her father, {{ill|Richard Weiss (mathematician)|lt=Richard Weiss|qid=Q102105407}}, was from the United States and taught mathematics. After her parents divorced when she was three years old, she moved to the U.S. with her father and settled in Boston, Massachusetts. Weiss went to school in Brookline and spent her vacations with her mother in Berlin and family in Italy. Weiss returned to Berlin when she was ten years old to receive her middle and high school education. Around this time, she began gathering clippings of recipes to test in the kitchen.<ref name="Boston Globe 2012">{{cite news |last1=Samuels |first1=Debra |title=Her Berlin is a story of lost and found loves, with recipes |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2012/09/18/her-berlin-story-lost-and-found-loves-with-recipes/ZVQfZH81zBmXGIu6BvzBaK/story.html |access-date=21 January 2022 |work=The Boston Globe |date=18 September 2012}}</ref>
Weiss studied at Tufts University in Massachusetts<ref name="Boston Globe 2012" /> and spent a year in Paris for graduate school. She then moved to New York, where she would work in the publishing industry for the next decade.<ref name="Boston Globe 2012" /><ref name="The Wednesday Chef bio">{{cite web |title=About |url=https://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/about-me.html |website=The Wednesday Chef |access-date=5 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206151730/https://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/about-me.html |archive-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Scattergood |first1=Amy |title=Q & A With Luisa Weiss: Her New Book, the Future of The Wednesday Chef + Cooking in Germany |url=https://www.laweekly.com/q-a-with-luisa-weiss-her-new-book-the-future-of-the-wednesday-chef-cooking-in-germany/ |access-date=6 February 2022 |work=LA Weekly |date=27 September 2012 |quote=I went to college in the States, went to Paris for a year in grad school, and back to New York and started work.}}</ref> Weiss was employed as a literary scout at Bettina Schrewe and later became senior editor at Stewart, Tabori & Chang, a publisher whose acquisitions focused on cookbooks and books on crafts.<ref>{{cite news |title=People |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/people/article/17390-people.html |access-date=4 February 2022 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=23 February 2007}}</ref> She started a blog named The Wednesday Chef in 2005 to document her experiences creating all the recipes she had clipped from newspapers over past years,<ref name="The Wednesday Chef bio" /><ref name="Times Online 2009">{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=Lynne |title=50 of the world's best food blogs |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/50-of-the-worlds-best-food-blogs-fhq3plz6c55 |access-date=5 February 2022 |work=The Times |date=17 February 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220205225033/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/50-of-the-worlds-best-food-blogs-fhq3plz6c55 |archive-date=5 February 2022 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="WamS 2014">{{cite news |last1=Siepmann |first1=Julia |title=Heimweh, lange im ofen geschmort |work=Welt am Sonntag |date=23 March 2014 |page=B4 |id={{ProQuest|1830026173}} |language=de}}</ref> inspired by the work of food bloggers such as Julie Powell, who had documented her experiences cooking all the recipes in a Julia Child cookbook within a year.<ref name="My Berlin Kitchen" />{{rp|pp=77–79}} The title of her blog was inspired by the fact that American newspapers have traditionally published their food columns on Wednesdays.<ref name="WamS 2014" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Foodbloggerin testet Berliner Restaurants |url=https://www.berlin.de/tourismus/insidertipps/2549237-2339440-foodbloggerin-testet-berliner-restaurant.html |website=berlin.de |agency=Deutsche Presse-Agentur |access-date=6 February 2022 |language=de |quote=Am Mittwoch erscheinen in amerikanischen Zeitungen traditionell die Kochtipps, daher der Name. |trans-quote=Cooking tips traditionally appear in American newspapers on Wednesdays, hence the name.}}</ref> In 2009, ''Times Online'' featured The Wednesday Chef on a list of their favourite food blogs.<ref name="Times Online 2009" />
In 2010, Weiss returned to Berlin to live with her future husband Max Beuchel and write full-time.<ref name="The Wednesday Chef bio" /><ref name="Boston Globe 2012" /> She published a memoir titled ''My Berlin Kitchen'' in 2012<ref name="Kirkus 2012" /> and a cookbook titled ''Classic German Baking'' in 2016.<ref name="JS 2016" /> She was a columnist for ''Harper's Bazaar Germany''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weiss |first1=Luisa |last2=Berning Sawa |first2=Dale |title=My kitchen: Luisa Weiss |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/feb/27/luisa-weiss-kitchen-encounters-instagram |access-date=20 January 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=27 February 2016}}</ref> from 2014 to 2017.
== Books == === ''My Berlin Kitchen'' (2012) === Weiss's memoir, ''My Berlin Kitchen'', was published with Viking Press in 2012.<ref name="Kirkus 2012" /> The book covers Weiss's childhood spent with parents who resided in separate countries, her career in the New York publishing industry, and her life since moving to Berlin. At the end of each chapter, the reader is presented with a recipe for a food previously mentioned in the text—German, Italian, and American dishes representing the places Weiss has lived.<ref name="Library Journal 2012">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Sue |title=My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes) |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/my-berlin-kitchen-a-love-story-with-recipes |access-date=4 February 2022 |work=Library Journal |date=1 September 2012}}</ref>
''Booklist'' reviewer Allison Block, in a starred review of ''My Berlin Kitchen'', called the book "a heartwarming (and often mouth-watering) memoir" with appeal to both foodies and non-foodies and chapters "brimming with colorful cooking tales and savory recipes."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Block |first1=Allison |title=My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes), by Luisa Weiss |journal=Booklist |volume=108 |issue=22 |date=August 2012 |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/My-Berlin-Kitchen-A-Love-Story-with-Recipes-Luisa-Weiss/pid=5527172 |access-date=6 February 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Sue White of ''Library Journal'' recommended the book, finding it a "charming" food memoir suited to those who enjoy the works of Laurie Colwin or M.F.K. Fisher.<ref name="Library Journal 2012" /> ''Kirkus Reviews'', however, thought the "often-clunky" writing led to "queasy" descriptions of food and "violated the show-don't-tell rule of writing"; criticism was also directed at rudimentary or overly complicated recipes and those with ingredients not accessible to most Americans.<ref name="Kirkus 2012">{{cite news |title=My Berlin Kitchen |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/luisa-weiss/my-berlin-kitchen/ |access-date=4 February 2022 |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=26 June 2012}}</ref>
=== ''Classic German Baking'' (2016) === ''Classic German Baking'' was first published in 2016 by Ten Speed Press.<ref name="JS 2016">{{cite news |last1=Deptolla |first1=Carol |title=Baking the German way |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/food/2016/12/18/baking-german-way/94485236/ |access-date=20 January 2022 |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=18 December 2016}}</ref> The cookbook contains a hundred recipes of traditional baked goods, ranging from butter cookies, to cakes, strudels, tortes, and Christmas cookies,<ref name="LATimes 2016">{{cite news |last1=Scattergood |first1=Amy |title=This fall's new cookbooks: 27 of our favorites |url=https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-fo-cookbooks-list-20161105-story.html |access-date=4 February 2022 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=4 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Sueddeutsche 2015">{{cite news |last1=Setzwein |first1=Erich C. |title=Von der Liebe und vom Essen |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/fuerstenfeldbruck/fuerstenfeldbruck-von-der-liebe-und-vom-essen-1.2704358 |access-date=6 February 2022 |work=Süddeutsche Zeitung |date=22 October 2015 |language=de-DE}}</ref> written with consideration to American home kitchens and ingredients.<ref name="JS 2016" /> Weiss was motivated to write the book as she felt like there was a deficit of German baking cookbooks in the American market despite the country's large German immigrant population.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hannon |first1=Molly |title=Classic German baking recipes revealed in new cookbook |url=https://www.dw.com/en/classic-german-baking-recipes-revealed-in-new-cookbook/a-36587064 |access-date=9 February 2022 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=30 November 2016}}</ref> She described the recipe-gathering process as a two-year effort that involved investigating antique cookbooks, then consulting friends and family, and corroborating her research using the internet.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kierzek |first1=Kristine M. |title=Luisa Weiss compiles the best of German baking |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/life/food/chef-chat/2016/12/20/luisa-weiss-compiles-best-german-baking/95518896/ |access-date=20 January 2022 |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=20 December 2016}}</ref>
''The Washington Post'' and ''The New York Times'' placed ''Classic German Baking'' on their lists of 2016's best cookbooks.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Melissa |author-link=Melissa Clark |title=The Year's Best Baking Cookbooks: Radical Ideas, Classic Treats |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/dining/best-cookbooks-baking.html |access-date=7 February 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=6 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Benwick |first1=Bonnie S. |title=The 31 best cookbooks of 2016 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-31-best-cookbooks-of-2016/2016/11/28/7290c604-add3-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html |access-date=4 February 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=28 November 2016}}</ref> Oliver Strand, writing for ''Vogue'', called the book a "gorgeous" introduction to German baking culture,<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Strand |first1=Oliver |title=More The Merrier |magazine=Vogue |date=December 2016 |volume=206 |issue=12 |page=264 |url=https://archive.vogue.com/article/2016/12/more-the-merrier |id={{ProQuest|1858846577}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> while ''Los Angeles Times'' food editor Amy Scattergood credited Weiss for writing a "not only useful and instructive but charming" cookbook.<ref name="LATimes 2016" /> In the ''New York Journal of Books'', reviewer Sharon Kebschull Barrett praised the book's "careful, concise" cooking directions and had only "mild" complaints, including a desire for more explanatory photos, an issue they felt the precision of the directions compensated for.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barrett |first1=Sharon Kebschull |title=Classic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen |url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/classic-german-baking |access-date=6 February 2022 |work=New York Journal of Books}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Luisa}} Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:American bloggers Category:American book editors Category:American expatriates in Germany Category:American cookbook writers Category:American food writers Category:American women food writers Category:American women bloggers Category:American women editors Category:Italian bloggers Category:Italian women bloggers Category:Italian cookbook writers Category:Italian expatriates in Germany Category:Italian food writers Category:Italian women editors Category:Italian women non-fiction writers Category:Writers from Boston Category:People from Wilmersdorf Category:Tufts University alumni Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American women writers Category:21st-century Italian non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Italian women writers