Sarah Wiener (born 27 August 1962) is a German-Austrian entrepreneur, television chef and politician who served as a member of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
for
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
from
2019
This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year.
Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
to 2024. She is a member of
The Greens – The Green Alternative
The Greens – The Green Alternative (, ) is a green political party in Austria. The Greens currently sit in opposition. Formerly, they were part of the Schallenberg government, the Second Kurz government, and the Nehammer government. It won ...
.
Career
Wiener was born in
Halle,
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
from the Austrian writer,
cyberneticist
Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...
and restaurateur Oswald Wiener and the German-Austrian visual artist Lore Heuermann and raised with her mother in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Austria. At the age of seventeen Sarah Wiener left a girls' boarding school and then hitchhiked through Europe. After opening her first restaurant in Berlin in 1999, Wiener established a number of additional restaurants and cafés in the city, including at
Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart is the former Train station#Terminus, terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as ...
(2003), the
Academy of the Arts (2005), the Museum for Communication (2009) and Futurium (2019). She also operated restaurants at
German Museum of Technology
(German Museum of Technology) in Berlin, Germany is a museum of science and technology, and exhibits a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The museum's main emphasis originally was on rail transport, but today it also features ...
in Berlin and
Mercedes-Benz Museum
The Mercedes-Benz Museum is an automobile museum in Stuttgart, Germany. It covers the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand and the brands associated with it. Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of the Merc ...
in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
.
From 2007 until 2012, ''
Arte
Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
'' and ''
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...
'' produced Wiener's first
cooking show
A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a Television studio, studio set, or at the host's p ...
. From 2018, she had a weekly radio program on ''
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...
''.
In 2007, Wiener set up the Sarah Wiener Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote healthy eating habits among children and teenagers. She has since been increasingly active as a campaigner. She was also involved with
food quality
Food quality is a concept often based on the organoleptic characteristics (e.g., taste, aroma, appearance) and nutritional value of food. Producers reducing potential pathogens and other hazards through food safety practices is another important f ...
group
Foodwatch
Foodwatch is a European advocacy group that focuses on protecting consumer rights as they pertain to food quality. The organization was founded in October 2002 in Berlin by former Greenpeace executive director Thilo Bode. , the organization is a ...
. Since 2015, she has been operating an
organic farm
Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...
in the
Uckermark
The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, which straddles the Uckermark (district), Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau.
...
region.
Amid the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.
On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained ...
, Wiener had to file for insolvency for her restaurants and catering business.
Political career
As
Member of the European Parliament
A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
, Wiener served on the
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament.
Responsibilities of the Committee
AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for:
#The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...
. In this capacity, she was the parliament's
rapporteur
A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word.
For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...
on
regulation of pesticides in the European Union
A pesticide, also called Plant Protection Product (PPP), which is a term used in regulatory documents, consists of several different components. The active ingredient in a pesticide is called “active substance” and these active substances eithe ...
.
In addition to her committee assignments, Wiener was part of the Parliament's delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee. She also chaired the MEP Interest Group on
Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resista ...
(AMR) and was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Corruption, the
European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights
The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...
and of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.
In January 2024, Wiener announced that she would not stand in the
2024 European elections
The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...
but instead resign from active politics by the end of the term.
Other activities
* Cradle to Cradle, Member of the Advisory Board
Recognition
* 2006: Herforder price — the German gastronomy price (honor price)
* 2007: Order One 100 ("Best Sceneco"), from Magazine ''Bunte''
* 2007: Trophée Gourmet (Honortrophée), from the Austrian gourmet leader à la carte
* 2008: Golden Cloche, Austria
* 2008: Woman of Exception Award in the category Lifestyles for Germany, by Parmigiani Fleurier,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
* 2008: Les Trophees de l'Esprit Alimentaire / French Food Spirit Award for the Arte series The culinary adventures of Sarah Wiener (France)
* 2008: Flair de Parfum (Prize of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce)
* 2010: Blue Hearts Award
* 2012: Fairness Price (
Fairness Foundation)
* 2012: Gourmet of the Year (
Gault Millau
Gault et Millau () is a French restaurant guide. It was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965.
Points system
Gault Millau rates restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants given ...
, Austria)
* 2013 – Chevalier of the
Ordre national du Mérite
The (; ) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's establishment was twofold: to replace the large number of ...
Personal life
Wiener has a son. From 2008 until 2014, she was married to German actor
Peter Lohmeyer
Peter Lohmeyer (born 22 January 1962 in Niedermarsberg) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1980.
Life and career
Lohmeyer is the youngest of three children of the Protestant pastor Dieter Lohmeyer and his wi ...
; during the relationship, she lived in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
's
Ottensen
Ottensen () (old name: Ottenhusen) is a former town located in Hamburg, Germany in the Altona borough on the right bank of the Elbe river. It is a now one of the 104 quarters of Hamburg.
History
The first record of Ottensen dates from 1310. ...
district.
Sarah Wiener und Peter Lohmeyer trennen sich
''Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
'', July 28, 2014.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiener, Sarah
1962 births
Living people
MEPs for Austria 2019–2024
Politicians from Halle (Saale)
21st-century women MEPs for Austria
The Greens (Austria) MEPs