Wolfram Siebeck: The Man Who Taught Germany About Taste

The SLUB is the custodian of the Siebeck estate

The estate is part of the German Culinary Archive (see my article in Falstaff) and is therefore open to the public. Of course, Wirtz—who knew Siebeck personally and, as the longtime editor-in-chief of Gault&Millau, brought a refreshingly critical tone to the publication—took advantage of the “grace of the archive,” as he put it in a conversation with Prof. Rutz: “I gained insight into very personal documents,” which helped with contextualizing and writing the book. “I believe this is a very honest book. In any case, it’s not sugarcoated,” Wirtz said about Siebeck. That’s true insofar as it also reveals the—let’s say—unconventional sides of Siebeck, who was not only a brilliant writer but also quite the egomaniac. In the interview, Wirtz summed this up beautifully when asked about the role of Siebeck’s wife, Barbara: “To say that Barbara Siebeck was the center of his world isn’t true, because the center of his world was Wolfram Siebeck.”

So, in 25 chapters, Christoph Wirtz introduces us to Siebeck as a man dedicated to refining the art of cooking—who by no means always goes about it with a foil, but rather sometimes strikes boldly with a sword or even an axe. In the process, you learn a lot about Siebeck and also about the “good old days,” which weren’t always so good—it’s definitely worth a read. And Christoph Wirtz isn’t just a companion of Siebeck’s; he’s also a master storyteller. For the most part, the text reads quite smoothly, sometimes even with a touch of smugness—but at times, Wirtz also had his off moments as a writer: sentences with 40 to 50 words would certainly not have made it past the editors at Gault&Millau.

Author Christoph Wirtz: “He wouldn’t have liked water!” Nor, I’m sure, would he have liked the position in the biographer’s lap… (Photo: Ulrich van Stipriaan)

How Wirtz evaluates and organizes his knowledge (which, after all, stems from personal experience and what he has read) is, of course, his own business. But despite his own self-perception, I still find him too close to being a companion and colleague in some respects. For in my view, the late Siebeck showed little wisdom of age; rather, I had to conclude that he was simply senile. Whether the bon vivant drank even more in his old age than in his younger years, I cannot say—I wasn’t there, after all; it was just what others whispered. Wirtz doesn’t address this; only at the start of the conversation at the SLUB did a remark slip out: “Water wouldn’t have been to his liking…” That’s true, I thought, and wondered whether Siebeck would have enjoyed taking part in the conversation while lying in his biographer’s lap?

But when you twist the truth to suit your own sharp words and start “finding” alternative facts as early as 2013, that’s a special kind of stubbornness. In his blog “Wo isst Siebeck,” he ranted in 2013 in his usual manner about the budding landscapes: “Berlin and the surrounding eastern regions are failing to deliver the necessary excellence.” Siebeck then turns to Dresden and writes: “This is evident at the only establishment in the popular city on the Elbe that boasts a Michelin star, ‘Bean&Beluga.’ We were there on a Thursday evening and were the only guests.” I knew better—both about the number of Michelin-starred restaurants (after all, the long-standing Caroussel at the Hotel Bülow Palais was already there at the time) and about there being only one table: Stefan Hermann had assured me that, aside from Siebeck’s table, there were four others. By the way, my comment was never published, so I’ll make up for it here: “Dear Mr. Siebeck, a little research certainly does every article good, even if you’re *the Siebeck*: Dresden has two Michelin-starred restaurants. And a little self-awareness (no one expects modesty from Siebeck, after all) would also be in order. For example, if you praise something toward the end of the post for which you yourself were paid—because you had a stake in it—that should definitely be mentioned there!” Incidentally, the praise at the end of *Knospende Landschaften* referred—and here we’ve come full circle—to the “Theme: The Court Kitchen around 1900,” where he himself served as co-editor…

Christoph Wirtz: “Siebeck.” A Full Life
ZS Verlag, Munich 2026.
ISBN 978-3965845589
304 pp., ill., hardcover, €29.90.