Ingrid Espelid Hovig is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 television chef

Celebrity chef

A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...

 and author of cook books. Through appearances on her cooking show

Cooking show

A TV cooking show is a television program that presents the preparation of food, in a kitchen on the studio set. The host of the show, often a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the show, taking the viewing audience through the food's preparation showing all...

 Fjernsynskjøkkenet over 26 years, between 1970 and 1996, she came to be considered the "culinary mother" of Norway, with the comparison "the Julia Child

Julia Child

Julia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...

 of Norway" often applied.

Career

She was born in Askøy

Askøy

Askøy is a municipality in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Since the opening of the Askøy Bridge leading to the mainland in Bergen in 1992, the population has increased rapidly. Its population growth is as of 2008 among the highest in Norway...

, near Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, and grew up in Kleppestø

Kleppestø

Kleppestø is an area of Askøy municipality in Hordaland county, Norway, located on the east coast of the municipality's main island. Kleppestø is the administrative center of the municipality, and is part of the Askøy urban area. Kleppestø is connected to the city of Bergen by ferry and a road...

. She graduated from the Norwegian State College for Domestic Science Teachers in 1950, and became acquainted with the French cuisine

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 during a stay in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Upon joining the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 1962 as program secretary for nourishment and consumer material, she became part of the country's first generation of television celebrities. The cookbook Den rutete kokeboken, of which she is the editor, is considered a national cook book. Also, in 2008 the newspaper Dagbladet

Dagbladet

Dagbladet is Norway's second largest tabloid newspaper, and the third largest newspaper overall with a circulation of 105,255 copies in 2009, 18,128 papers less than in 2008. The editor in chief is Lars Helle....

recognized her 1967 book Ingrid Espelid ber til bords as among the twenty-five most influential prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

 books in post-1945 Norway. Her total publications to date exceed 50.

As the first non-American, she was presented by the International Association of Culinary Professionals

International Association of Culinary Professionals

The International Association of Culinary Professionals is a United States based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage....

, "The Life Time Achievement Award". In 1994 Espelid Hovig was awarded the Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

Although retired, she accepts assignments from publishing companies, and other short term engagements. She was an honorary juror at the inaugural Bocuse d'Or

Bocuse d'Or

The Bocuse d'Or is a biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France at the SIRHA International Hotel, Catering and Food Trade Exhibition, and is one of the world's most prestigious cooking...

 Europe in 2008. Espelid Hovig has also been a political candidate for the Liberal Party of Norway, and has met as a deputy representative in the borough council of Frogner, Oslo

Frogner

Frogner is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In addition to traditional Frogner, the borough incorporates Bygdøy, Uranienborg and Majorstuen....

. In her 80s, she is considered a national trendsetter for women of her generation who by a large margin are prone to follow her trademark hair style.

Personal life

At the age of 53 she married the architect Jan Inge Hovig

Jan Inge Hovig

Jan Inge Hovig was a Norwegian architect.Hovig finished his studies at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1946. He was city architect during the reconstruction of Narvik 1947-1950, which had been devastated during a battle in 1940. In 1950 he moved to Oslo and founded his own office...

, the architect of the Arctic Cathedral

Arctic Cathedral

The Tromsdalen Church , which is more commonly known as The Arctic Cathedral , is a church in Tromsø, Norway, built in 1965. The church is a parish church and not, in fact, a cathedral.The church was designed by Jan Inge Hovig, and its building materials consist mainly of concrete...

 in Tromsø

Tromsø

Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...

. He died a week after the wedding, aged 57. At the age of 83, Ingrid Espelid Hovig still wore her wedding ring

Wedding ring

A wedding ring or wedding band is a metal ring indicating the wearer is married. Depending on the local culture, it is worn on the base of the right or the left ring finger. The custom of wearing such a ring has spread widely beyond its origin in Europe...

.

She is also a former member of the International Organisation of Good Templars

International Organisation of Good Templars

The IOGT International is an international non-governmental organisation working in the field of temperance...

.