About Isabelle Plasschaert
Having grown up in a family of true foodies, it was only a matter of time for me to combine both my passions; food and photography. I can still see my mother sitting in her "settee", covered in cookbooks and magazines, putting together this patchwork of ideas and dishes to create the perfect dinner party.
She would start sourcing her long list of ingredients weeks in advance, ordering meat from the best butcher in town, or buying fish from the market on Fridays in the centre of Bruges, preparing the food in stages.
Years earlier, she had inspired my brother to become a passionate chef and they would try out dishes, making our kitchen out of bounds to my dad and me. With such big shoes to fill, it took me years to start cooking myself but the seeds had been sown and my taste buds educated, and I caught up in the end.
My cooking style, as is my photography style, is more rustic, consisting of one-pan-wonders, using the best ingredients, thrown together in a seemingly random way, but with unpretentious, beautiful and surprising results. People tell me that I am an unassuming photographer, invisible, laid back and waiting for the moment to happen, rather than forcing things, using complicated recipes. My style is more gastro pub than nouvelle cuisine ! Organic, real and easy going with lots of colour topped off with a little dash of movement.
With all this in mind, I went on a photographic journey, looking for my delicious past. I enjoyed spending time on a Turkey farm, being the attraction of the day to these rather sociable birds. They reminded me of my granddad's small organic farm, back in the day. I was fascinated to see how wine makers draw on volunteers to pick the grapes and use heavy horses to pull the harvest out of the narrow lanes. Or seeing how artisan cheesemakers spend most of their days in this humid and milky environment. I love recording all this and relish being part of it, even if it means me having to dress up in some unflattering outfits.
She would start sourcing her long list of ingredients weeks in advance, ordering meat from the best butcher in town, or buying fish from the market on Fridays in the centre of Bruges, preparing the food in stages.
Years earlier, she had inspired my brother to become a passionate chef and they would try out dishes, making our kitchen out of bounds to my dad and me. With such big shoes to fill, it took me years to start cooking myself but the seeds had been sown and my taste buds educated, and I caught up in the end.
My cooking style, as is my photography style, is more rustic, consisting of one-pan-wonders, using the best ingredients, thrown together in a seemingly random way, but with unpretentious, beautiful and surprising results. People tell me that I am an unassuming photographer, invisible, laid back and waiting for the moment to happen, rather than forcing things, using complicated recipes. My style is more gastro pub than nouvelle cuisine ! Organic, real and easy going with lots of colour topped off with a little dash of movement.
With all this in mind, I went on a photographic journey, looking for my delicious past. I enjoyed spending time on a Turkey farm, being the attraction of the day to these rather sociable birds. They reminded me of my granddad's small organic farm, back in the day. I was fascinated to see how wine makers draw on volunteers to pick the grapes and use heavy horses to pull the harvest out of the narrow lanes. Or seeing how artisan cheesemakers spend most of their days in this humid and milky environment. I love recording all this and relish being part of it, even if it means me having to dress up in some unflattering outfits.