21 Facts About Maggie Beer

Maggie Beer was born on Margaret Anne Ackerman, 19 January 1945 and is an Australian chef, food author, restaurateur, and food manufacturer.

Maggie Beer was born in Sydney in January 1945, to Ronald Ackerman, whose German ancestry was from his paternal grandparents, and Doreen Carter, who had English ancestry from her maternal great-grandparents.

Maggie Beer grew up with her family in Sydney's western suburbs.

Maggie Beer's parents faced issues with bankruptcy as she was growing up and re-invented themselves as caterers.

Maggie Beer stated this contributed to her strong work ethic later in life.

Maggie Beer did not complete her high school education, instead choosing to leave school to help the family at the age of 14 and worked in various jobs, including one as a lift operator in a New Zealand department store and an assistant to a senior geophysicist for BP in Libya before returning to Sydney in 1968.

Maggie Beer's only paid cooking job was at a Scottish sailing school during a European trip in her early twenties.

Maggie Beer stated: "I used the whole of their larder for the four-month season in eight weeks because I'm a very generous cook, that's the only way I know how to cook".

Maggie Beer operated a business in the Barossa which produces a range of gourmet foods, including Pheasant Farm Pate, quince paste, verjuice and gourmet ice creams.

Maggie Beer co-hosted the ABC television cooking program The Cook and the Chef with Simon Bryant, who is the Head Chef for the Hilton, Adelaide.

Maggie Beer has appeared several times as a guest judge and guest masterclass presenter on MasterChef Australia.

Maggie Beer has written books about food and food preparation, as well as co-authoring a book with noted cook, restaurateur and food writer Stephanie Alexander.

One of her co-written books, Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer's Tuscan Cook, has been translated into five different languages.

Maggie Beer remained a judge for a further four seasons and appeared as a guest in season 7.

In 2023, Maggie Beer began filming in Western Australia for a new ABC series premiering in 2024.

In 1997, Maggie Beer was the Telstra South Australian Business Woman of the Year.

Maggie Beer was awarded the Centenary Medal on 1 January 2001 for service to Australian society through cooking and writing.

In 2008, Maggie Beer won the Australian Publishers Association's illustrated Book of the Year for Maggie's Harvest.

Maggie Beer was awarded the "Senior Australian of the Year" 2010.

In 2022, Maggie Beer was promoted to Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to the tourism and hospitality industries as a cook, restaurateur and author, and to aged welfare".

Maggie Beer married Colin Beer on 17 January 1970 and they own a cottage home in the Barossa Valley in South Australia.