Magdalena Pleiweis

Magdalena Pleiweis (21 July 1815 – 20 July 1890) was the author of the first Slovene cookbook.

Magalena Knafel was born 21 July 1815 in Maria Elend, Carinthia, into a farming family. Her parents were Joseph Knafel and Maria (née Wernig) Knafel. She married Valentin Pleyweiß (Pleiweis) on 20 January 1856 in the cathedral in Ljubljana. She was his third wife and thus the stepmother of Valentin Pleiweis Jr. and Janez Bleiweis.

She was considered a good cook and, inspired by Valentin Vodnik's Kuharske bukve (Cookbook, 1799), she wrote the first real Slovene cookbook, titled Slovenska kuharica ali navod okusno kuhati navadna in imenitna jedila (Slovene Cookbook or Instructions for Cooking Tasty Common and Elaborate Dishes, 1868). The book had reached its 13th edition by 1956. The cookbook was repopularised in the 1970s and updated in the 1990s.

Pleiweis died of a stroke in Ljubljana on 20 July 1890 and was buried at Saint Christopher's Cemetery in Ljubljana.