Georgiana Viou

Biography

Georgiana Viou was born in 1977 in Cotonou, Benin, and learned to cook from her mother. At age 22 she moved to Paris to study languages at the Sorbonne, aiming to become a conference translator. After the birth of her first child, her fascination with cooking rekindled, and she began gaining experience in restaurant kitchens. After graduation, she moved to Marseille, where she worked at a communications agency during the day and in restaurants at night, developing her skills.

Viou is self-taught and credits her time in Marseille's restaurant kitchens for teaching her everything she knew. At age 33, she left translation work to work full time in kitchens. In 2008, she appeared on the first season of Un dîner presque parfait. Encouraged by friends, she applied for MasterChef France, where she reached the finals.

In 2011, she opened her first cooking school and restaurant, L'Atelier de Georgiana, and released her first book, Géorgiana - Ma cuisine de Marseille. Her cuisine is Mediterranean, specifically Provençal, influenced by her roots in Benin; she does not regard it as fusion, which she considers 'messy'. In 2015, she opened Chez Georgiana, but it closed the next year after differences with investors. In 2021, she opened Rouge, a restaurant and bar in Nîmes, where she received the Grand de Demain award from Gault & Millau.

That year she also published her second book, Le goût de Cotonou, ma cuisine du Bénin. In 2022, she returned to television as a judge on MasterChef France. In 2023, Rouge and head chef Viou received a Michelin star, making her the first black female chef in France to be awarded one; she was the only single woman chef to receive a Michelin star in 2023.