Janny van der Heijden

About Janny van der Heijden

Janny van der Heijden is a culinary all-rounder. She studied Dutch Language and Literature and began as an editor at a publishing house. Here she translated and adapted her first cookbook. Since then, the spark has ignited. She now has dozens of titles to her name and international reach. Additionally, she wrote a daily culinary column for regional newspapers and later for the Algemeen Dagblad. Since 2018, Janny has her own line of tableware!

Janny is now a familiar face on television. She started as the final editor of Koken met Sterren, and she was involved in various television productions including MasterChef, Life & Cooking, Een kwestie van smaak, and Koffietijd. Since 2013, she has also been seen on television as a judge on the successful program Heel Holland Bakt. Janny participated in various programs including De Slimste Mens, Maestro, and Het Perfecte Plaatje. She developed the Nationale Eettest, which she presented with Paul de Leeuw, and was co-host in his program Pauls Puber Kookshow, which won the Gouden Stuiver in 2016 for best youth program at the Gouden Televizier-Gala.

Since 2019, Janny has appeared with André van Duin in the program Denkend aan Holland, and in 2021 the web series Aandenken aan Holland was added. Janny also presents her own program on the channel 24Kitchen since 2021: De Smaak van Nederland.

In 2022, Janny and Andre started in the series Denkend aan Holland: de Elfstedentocht. In addition to that program, Janny created the web series Janny’s Frieskist.

Her passion is to convey knowledge about food to as wide an audience as possible. She does this with simple words and beautiful examples. In this capacity, Janny was the figurehead for the Ministry of WVS’s campaign Ouderen en Voeding. From her extensive experience with cookbooks, Janny van der Heijden was the jury chair of Het Gouden Kookboek, the CPNB award for the best original Dutch-language cookbook, for 2 years.

In the spring of 2023, Janny’s latest book will be released: Smaakpalet van de Lage Landen. In it, Janny explores the tradition and food culture of the Netherlands through iconic paintings. What do we see depicted and what does this tell us about life back then and the foreign influences on our cuisine?

In addition to her television work, Janny also regularly gives workshops in various fields and is engaged as a day chair or jury member.