In Je bent wat je eet (You are what you eat), we dive into the tasty world of culinary storytelling with kitchen chefs and cookbook authors. Because with flavours and dishes, as with books, you share your experiences and memories. Like a carefully chosen word, a specific flavour can evoke powerful emotions.

Hassnae Bouazza spoke with cookbook authors Katinka Lansink Dodero (Peruvian cuisine) and Raghenie Bhawani (Surinamese cuisine) about cooking, food and food culture.

Katinka Lansink Dodero is the author of Peruvian cookbooks and various publications. With her brand cevicheceviche, she gives workshops and master classes to chefs, bartenders and consumers, organises events, conducts research and has her own Peruvian chilli sauce line. She grew up in the Netherlands and inherited her love for Peruvian cuisine from her Limeen mother. In 2021, she published her book Mi Casa Peru, an introduction to Peruvian cuisine, which earned her the designation ‘promising debutante of the year’. Cocina Latina (2022), which she co-authored, features all family recipes. In her latest book Cocina Nikkei (2023), she focused on one of Peru's many fusion cuisines, Peruvian-Japanese. Storytelling, background and colour are regular ingredients in Katinka's work. Katinka is now writing the Bible of Peruvian Cuisine.

Raghenie Bhawanie enjoyed an all-Hindustani upbringing by her Surinamese mother with Surinamese dishes with Javanese, Creole, Indian and Chinese influences. She viewed that culinary melting pot with renewed interest in Madame jeanette: simpele Surinaamse recepten met pit (Madame Jeanette: simple Surinamese recipes with spice, 2024). In it, she serves over a hundred dishes, the vast majority of which feature vegetables in the main role. There is also ample room for humour, family stories, photos and encounters. Raghenie is a communications strategist and recipe developer. As a culinary columnist, she works for Het Parool, the NPO Radio 1 programme Villa VdB and Foodies Magazine.

Hassnae Bouazza is a journalist, columnist, presenter and programmer. She publishes in various media (including Dutch national daily newspaper NRC and women's magazine Linda); and runs her own online magazine for culture lovers, Aicha Qandisha. Together with Michelin-starred chef Soenil Bahadoer, she wrote the culinary books Spicy Chef (2020) and Streetfood (2022). She published two further books in 2022: Een koffer vol citroenen (A Suitcase Full of Lemons), a portrait of a mother and daughter, and Arbeidsmigranten in Nederland (Migrant Labourers in the Netherlands).

You Are What You Eat was curated for Writers Unlimited Festival 2025 by Ilonka Reintjens.


Festival tip 1: for the full festival experience, many joined us for the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you chose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

Festivaltip 2: as in 2025 Writers Unlimited presented its literature festival for 30 years, we celebrated this anniversary with Playing with Fire, a show full of music, dance and literature at Amare (Danstheater) on Sunday afternoon, 26 January. You saw and heard Spinvis, Shirma Rouse, XILLAN, Babs Gons, Joost Oomen, Zaïre Krieger, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Royal Conservatoire Dance and percussion group Pulse led by Eli Wing, among others. Note: Dutch spoken.

From 23 to 26 January 2025, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague was to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.