Many coburg residents will be shocked and perhaps even roll their eyes: at otto gourmet, an online mail order company for high-quality meat products, there is now, among other things, a vietnamese bratwurst and also a pink bratwurst – created by TV chef felicitas then.
Wait a minute: at the name "then many coburgers will also take notice. Whether this chef, bubbling over with crazy ideas, has something to do with the airline "then air" once stationed on the coburg brandenburg plain? Yes, it has. "That was my grandfather, tells felicitas then. She herself was born in coburg, but left the town as a small child. But there are still many connections to the old home – but more on that later.
Editor at the bild newspaper
For felicitas then, now 31, it was clear from a very early age that she wanted to be a chef one day. "When I was a teenager, I didn't read fashion magazines, I read cookbooks, she remembers and has to laugh. Her rough role models have always been the two TV chefs sarah wiener and especially jamie oliver. And indeed: today she herself can be seen regularly cooking on tv. But the road to the television stove took a few detours.
"My mother wanted me to learn 'something decent'", explains felicitas then. That's why she studied art and english before she got a place at the axel springer academy. So everything was ready for a career in journalism. But felicitas then would much rather cook! "At bild-zeitung, all I ever wanted to do was write about food", she tells.
What to do with 100000 euros?
After having been successful in smaller TV formats before, the final breakthrough came in 2013: felicitas then won the show "the taste" on sat 1 – and was faced with the question of what she could do with the prize money of 100,000 euros.
"I took it as seed money for my independence", she says – and that was a good decision, as it soon turned out. But felicitas then's even more important capital is her self-confident and at the same time wonderfully refreshing and creative way of doing things. The 31-year-old, who has never trained as a chef and describes herself as an "absolute nerd has already conquered cooking pots all over the world – even in barbados and the canary islands. Background: she is also a "gourmet patron for the cruise ship aida. This year she will set sail three times and act as a show chef for the guests on board during the voyage. "I am very grateful to be able to do this – yes, I enjoy it very much", says felicitas then, even though she has other favorite countries – not least from a culinary perspective.
She is particularly fond of vietnam. Since spices and herbs are the most important things in cooking for felicitas then anyway, she found a lot of new inspiration in the far east – for example for the "vietnamese bratwurst" mentioned at the beginning. At otto gourmet this is advertised with the slogan: "against boredom on the grill." And that sums up felicitas then's philosophy very well: "my food has to have bang", she says "i love spices and herbs, i need frippery!"
Nevertheless, there is one dish that she would never change: "the coburg bratwurst is perfect! She is the best bratwurst in the world!" Three or four times a year, she visits her relatives in her old home country, and a visit to the coburg marketplace, including a bratwurst, is part of the obligatory program.
Love for pizza
And what is her favorite dish in berlin?? The answer is as quick as it is surprising: "pizza"!" Pizza? "Yes", felicitas then explains "because i can't make them myself!" With an eye on her figure, she doesn't eat pizza at the italian restaurant very often – frozen pizza is out of the question anyway. She is also very disciplined in other respects: "i usually eat only a third of a normal portion." Carbohydrates are completely taboo in the evening. But she is still self-critical: "it would have been perfect if I liked jogging as much as I like cooking!"
When asked about her next goals, she also has a baffling answer ready: "I want to open an ice cream parlor!" But the explanation sounds logical: "i'm on the road a lot". That's why I couldn't imagine opening a restaurant that I would then often have to leave alone. It was easier at an ice cream parlor." Because felicitas then is ambitious, she adds – laughing – another step: "maybe this can be expanded as a franchise chain!" At the latest, many coburgers will sit up and take notice when they suddenly hear the name "then" encountered all over the world.
Background
Curriculum vitae felicitas then was born in coburg in november 1986. She studied at the university of bremen before becoming a freelancer for the bild newspaper in berlin. After two years of journalism training at the axel springer academy, she worked as an editor at the bild newspaper in hanover. – if you ask felicitas then about her hobbies, she gives you a clear answer: "she cooks!" All the better for her that in the meantime she has succeeded in turning her great hobby into a profession.
TV cooking career in 2008, felicitas then won the "unter volldampf" (full steam ahead) competition and "kocharena on vox. In 2011, she won the "cake fight" competition on ZDF about it. In december 2013, felicitas then won the cooking casting show "the taste" on sat 1. From january 2014 to january 2015 she cooked for TV berlin. Since june 2015, she has been appearing on youtube together with melissa lee and felix denzerals as a chef, recipe author and presenter of the yumtamtam cooking channel sponsored by the food company edeka. Since january 2016, felicitas then has also been appearing on the berlin radio station 94.3 rs2 with a daily cooking show. At the end of 2016, the first episodes of felicitas then's own TV cooking format "die foodtruckerin" were broadcast aired on the television station N24 (today "welt"). In 2017, she won the audience award at the berlin "eat" festival!".
Booker after "the fabulous world of felicitas then" the second book by the coburg-born author was published at the beginning of 2018. There is "the foodtrucker" and is the book for the tv program of the same name on "world". In 160 pages, felicitas then tells of her "culinary road trip by germany. In the book, she not only reveals many clever recipes – from burgers to grilled blood sausage and tartar with truffle mayonnaise – but also tells of many exciting encounters with people. In addition, during her travels, she became very intensively involved with the products that she later uses in her cakes. "I felt with my hands that it is almost easier to make cheese than to eat it", she writes, for example, in the foreword. Felicitas then also visited three french locations during her trip to germany: in tettau in the district of kronach, she cooked with the fruits she had previously harvested in the tropical greenhouse "klein eden" harvested. At the weyermann malt factory in bamberg, she loves to explain how brewing and rusting malts are produced according to old craft traditions. In bayreuth, they were led by the – also from coburg! – beer sommelier michael konig introduces you to the art of craft beer. The book also contains great tips – for example, how to build your own smoking stove with very little effort. And: the book is easy to read already!