Where were you born and raised?
In Amsterdam, The Netherlands
You write the last Years of recipes for kitchen machines and tell us how it came about?
Yes, that has become a very wonderful story. I was looking for a pasta machine with which you can make many different types of pasta, and I came across the Kenwood brand with a pasta maker. I bought this machine and immediately started using it. The most delicious fresh pasta came out. I sent a prescription photo to Kenwood to show how well this machine worked. A week later I received an email back that they think it looks so beautiful, and they also liked the photos on my Facebook site. They asked me if I wanted to write recipes for their kitchen machines in exchange for accessories. And that’s how my Kenwood story started. In the meantime I have already written a whole cookbook full of delicious recipes, and this can now be downloaded for free from the Kenwoodclub site.
We are now a few years later, and every time Kenwood sends me a new accessory, I start working on coming up with tasty recipes again.
You now also regularly appear in the media on radio and television, how did that happen?
Through a good friend of mine Tineke de Nooij works for Dutch radio. I have known her for many years. I also regularly cook for her birthday parties and friends. And so the tastiest dishes come online on Facebook. And getting so slow is more and more invitations from famous people for whom I cook something delicious.
Yes, I saw that on your Facebook page. You started making sushi for 200 people.
That’s right, I got an invitation from a famous writer if I wanted to make sushi for his party for 200 people. It was the first time that I had made sushi for so many people. It had become a great success, the people enjoyed it.
And you were also cooking on the radio recently, what about that?
Yes, Tineke de Nooij have a live radio program on Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. With live artists, but there is also a cook during the broadcast who makes something delicious. She asked me if I wanted to make sushi for the guests during the broadcast. The broadcast can also be viewed live on a weekly basis via the internet and on Facebook. Last month I made fresh ice cream with crepes in the studio. That had also become a huge success.
I have been following you for a while now, and I see them most amazingly tasty dishes coming along on Facebook. Do you take the photos yourself or have them taken.
No, I do everything myself. I usually just use my cell phone’s camera for that. And sometimes when I really make something special or for a recipe that has to be placed on the website, I use my SLR for that. Photography is also a hobby of mine. Now I can combine both well, cooking and writing recipes and taking photos
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I watch a lot of YouTube videos about, for example, Japan or Italy. And sometimes I come across very strange and unusual dishes that I want to know more about. Then sometimes I spend days searching everywhere until I completely understand how the recipe should be made. A few years ago I came across the corzetti pasta. I wanted to know everything about it. And so I found a small company in Italy that wanted to make a Corzetti pasta stamp with my name in it. And so I could breathe new life into an almost extinct recipe. Filippo Romagnoli thought that all attention was paid to his pasta stamps. In the meantime, his Corzetti stamps are going all over the world.
For example, I also found a nice company Pastidea.com in Italy that makes bronze pasta molds that fit on the Kenwood machines. The nice thing is that the professional kitchen has now become easily accessible for a consumer to be able to cook professionally at home.
Are you going to cook special dishes for the coming holidays?
I think so. The holidays are very special days for me to really enjoy with family and friends. I usually start cooking very extensively. And of course, I also write recipes for the holidays on the Kenwoodclub site.
Thank you very much Dimitri for this interview. I wish you a merry Christmas and all the best for 2020.
I also wish you all the best for the new year and for all readers of this magazine. A very happy and healthy and inspiring 2020.
By Publisher & Journalist Margaux Cintrano