cbertel's photostream  

I am a cook who loves to write. And I am a writer who loves to cook. There used to be no word in English to describe me. But now there is: bibliochef.

And what I also am is a person who's lived an amazing life. Years of living and working in several developing countries--Mexico, Paraguay, Honduras, Haiti, Morocco, and Burkina Faso—and months of traveling in Europe, all grabbed me like a sculptor digging into a vat of raw clay, malleable in the artist's warm, gentle hands, turning me into a citizen of the world.

I've written about food and culture for years, squirreling away everything in notebooks, computer files, and brain cells. I've cooked for years, beginning with family meals and then graduating to a little restaurant work, some catering, and many dinner parties cooked under often trying circumstances--food shortages, revolution, water-main burstings, and curfews. I've eaten in dives and Michelin 3-star restaurants, shaken hands with great chefs, hugged street-market women for sharing recipes with me, and cooked in more kitchens than cells in a beehive. Or almost.

My background includes more than traveling and living in many countries; a few years ago, I joined the National Book Critics Circle. As a critic and freelance writer, I make full use of my educational background, including degrees in Latin American Studies, History, Human Nutrition and Foods, and Library and Information Science.

Books and food and a pen – nothing more needed. Or maybe a computer and a camera …

My map:

visited 35 states (15.5%)Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project