Wolfram Siebeck

Wolfram Siebeck (19 September 1928 – 7 July 2016) was a German journalist, author and food critic. With his satirical style of writing he used to criticise fast food, TV dinners, subsidised agriculture and intensive animal farming.

Biography

Wolfram Siebeck was born in Duisburg to administrative clerk and later landlord Walter Siebeck. He grew up in Essen and Bochum. Siebeck witnessed the end of World War II serving as a Luftwaffenhelfer in northern Germany where he was also taken prisoner of war by allied forces. The British Army interned him on Fehmarn island for a few months.

During the first post-war years, Siebeck earned his living by painting advertising signs. When the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung was founded in 1948, Siebeck was hired to work as an illustrator. Later, he worked together with his friend Roland Topor.

Due to an inheritance, Siebeck was able to study at a fine arts school in Wuppertal from 1950. This was also the time of his first journey to France. When Willy Fleckhaus founded Twen magazine in Cologne, Siebeck got to write a culinary column for the magazine. For many years, he was also a regular writer with a monthly column in Stern, Die Zeit, and Der Feinschmecker. Moreover, published books as a food critic. Starting in 2011, his contributions to Die Zeit became fewer. Instead, Siebeck wrote a blog until 2015 called Wo isst Siebeck – Ein Reisetagebuch ['Where does Siebeck eat? – An itinerary'].

Wolfram Siebeck died on 7 July 2016 in Lahr, Germany.

Personal life

From 1959 to 1969, Siebeck was married to his first wife Erika. He married Barbara McBride, née Wilke, in 1969. She had three sons (Shawn, Robin and Brian McBride) from her previous marriage with the American photographer Will McBride.