Fun & Famous

Edwin I met during my yoga retreat in Ibiza. He is a top chef and served us the most delicious food ever every day. Vegan, so no meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. You would think: that's super boring, but Edwin made me taste it. Now, I'm not converted to a die-hard vegan, but I came back full of new inspiration.

Edwin is a self-employed entrepreneur as a Food Creative. That means: he provides tools to a starting restaurant and then lets them fly. He thinks along about new concepts, you can hire him as a private chef, and he gives cooking workshops. So if anyone knows everything about good food, it's him.

Where in the world is your favorite restaurant?

‘On every street corner in Asia. The simple, authentic, local dishes based on family traditions. The culture, flavors, and love for food can really touch me. Sweet memories!’

And who would you really like to have dinner with? It can be anyone.

‘With family and friends. The people who are close to me are the most important, I do this far too little. Eating is about connecting and sharing with each other, sharing things and enjoying with full attention.’

Where do you prefer to sit in a restaurant?

‘Outside in the sun if possible. Bliss at its best.’

What do you always hope is on a menu?

‘Seasonal ingredients and the chef's creativity.

I always hope that the chef is aware of his surroundings: “where do I get my ingredients from, how do they taste, and who do I support?”’

As a top chef, you must also be disgusted by something? Tell me.

‘Yes, by foie gras (duck liver). Every Burgundian knows what this is, but not everyone knows how this liver is “fattened”, or doesn't want to know. A mulard (a cross between a Peking duck and a goose) is unnecessarily cruelly fattened under stressful and unnatural conditions. I'll leave out the details. Besides the fact that you are eating a sick liver, I do not support this method of fattening and food production. I stand for the natural growth process in which the ingredient can develop fully and ripe; quality, therefore. We are so far removed from nature that we want everything fast, fast, fast instead of giving nature the time to do its work. I hope we learn to appreciate the process more, and the result will be excellent, in terms of taste and for the environment, animals, and humans.’

Do you find your way on the wine list?

‘I have a solid knowledge of wine. I like to let go of the labels, which gives room for creativity. This is expressed, for example, in an oyster with passion fruit and black tea with bergamot and lavender. But what I can really enjoy is a sommelier at the table who knows his craft and can passionately tell me how it all works.’

Starter or dessert?

‘Life is too short, start with the dessert.’

And, let’s say, you’re cooking for a date for the first time. What’s on the table?

‘Breakfast in bed.’

What fun project are you currently working on?

‘With setting up a self-sufficient rooftop garden in Amsterdam. I stand for an innovative approach to creative, healthy, and honest food. Nutrition for me is staying as close to nature as possible, and this quest will never bore me. I am engaged in innovation and developments focused on food and its production. Nutrition is for me infinitely creative, vibrant, always pure, energy-giving, stimulating the senses, evoking emotion, but also cooking, being together, and eating together.’

‘I eat to live, instead of living to eat.’.

When I pay attention to food, I am engaged with the real reason why we consume food: energy and satisfaction.

Additionally, I can express my creativity in cooking.

I like to assess food based on freshness, origin, and quality. “Mother Nature cooks from a sustainable vision.”

That means for me that I work as much as possible with locally bound and ecological products. And in an agricultural concept that I believe in, where food is actually good for us and tastes really good.