May has an opinion

The interview that I had all sorts of thoughts about

Sometimes you read something that surprises you so much that, to quote my colleague Franska Stuy (you know, her from Franska.co.uk) you immediately feel like you don't need a facelift anymore. Something with a raised eyebrow. Out of astonishment. Is this REALLY asked? And did anyone give a SERIOUS answer to this? And was there no one, an editor, a chief, an editor-in-chief, who thought: well, maybe we shouldn't place this interview like this?

De Volkskrant landed on my doormat on Saturday and I reached for the magazine in one smooth motion, my favorite. I start with Arno Kantelberg, move on to Eva Hoeke and hey, how nice, an interview with Sergio Herman. I was looking forward to that. Questioned by a journalist known for her questions that go just a bit further, who doesn't shy away from the difficult. Everything to create a beautiful portrait. Admirable. But between these two, it didn't click. And as I read the questions, I can imagine a lot about that. I’ll list my facelift moments.
1. What did you eat when you heard that your child had passed away? Sergio Herman and Ellemieke Vermolen were expecting their third child together, who passed away a few weeks before the due date in Ellemieke's womb. I somewhat understand the idea. For this man, cooking and eating are important and something dramatic happens in his life, but still. Inappropriate in capitals.

2. Passage two. – He walks to the cooking island in the house he specially rented for the interviews about his cookbook. It could have also been in his restaurant The Jane in Antwerp, but no, that just didn't fit perfectly with the look & feel of his cookbook. So now we are in the Belgian town of Mol, 150 euros taxi costs away from Antwerp Central. –
It might be me, but I read here: what a nitpicker, The Jane is beautiful and now I had to fork out 150 euros to come to this apartment. And she had to go back too. Or am I wrong? Anyway. It continued.

3. Sergio says he wants to make easy recipes, but the interviewer thinks differently. She doesn't even have a jar of feta cubes standard in the fridge. Sergio says that if you want to go beyond potatoes, vegetables, and a piece of meat, you need some stuff. When she asks further, he says that she is not the right reference frame. Stiff is the only word that comes to mind. We move on.

4. Then comes the. Sergio wrote in his new book that if you prepare food with love and the right ingredients, it makes the difference between a plate of food and a plate of happiness. Then comes the question. If he ever thinks of places in the world where hunger prevails when he writes something like that. Sorry. I found it shocking. As if you ask Dafne Schippers if she ever thinks about people who have no legs during the 200 meters? Or the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature if he thinks about the illiterate when writing his novel. HowSO? The man is a star chef. This is his profession. He must think about it sometimes, just like every human does.

5. But we move on. Whether he, because he loves beautiful things, finds it important to have a ‘clean’ woman as the Belgians say. Sergio confirms that. We move on. Whether he would mind if she went to a cosmetic doctor. Uh. What does that matter? We are talking about his cookbook. Cooookbook. If you want to mention his wife, ask what she cooks for him. What an aphrodisiac is. What she makes for him. By the way, I know that, it's this dish, but that's beside the point.

6. The kicker. The journalist mentions that Sergio finds the look and feel important. She has tracked down that he recently received a fine for speeding. That didn't seem good for his personal look and feel. Sergio counters that everyone gets fines anyway. She brings up the numbers. He was driving 105 where you were allowed 50. What does that say about him? Sergio replies that it’s busy days, he was in a hurry, that these things happen. She continues. He could have killed someone.

Then I almost spilled my morning coffee. What an accusation. What an assumption. What did I do? Immediately bought Sergio's cookbook and booked three options for my favorite restaurant The Jane. You see: everything is publicity. Even when it concerns such a special interview as this.

And I hope that this very experienced journalist soon meets someone opposite her with whom she has a greater click and serves us one of her pearls again.