Dame Alison Margaret Holst DNZM CBE QSM (née Payne, born 1938) is a best-selling New Zealand food writer and television celebrity chef.

Since then (as of 2010) her cookbooks have collectively sold more than four and a half million copies of 100 titles,[2] and she has appeared on numerous other television and radio shows as well as writing newspaper columns and magazine articles.

[3][4] In November 2010 Holst appeared on Radio New Zealand's afternoon programme to deny rumours that she had been asked to be the next governor-general.

[7][8][9] Her cook book Meals with the Family from 1967 is held in the collections at New Zealand’s national museum Te Papa Tongarewa.

[12] In the 2011 New Year Honours, Holst was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the food industry.