Silvia van der Wal

I’m a development worker // cook, which obviously happened somewhat accidentally.

Friends of mine transformed a moped into a mobile kitchen five years ago and we started cooking at festivals and events. Just good fun in a time before the festival and food truck craziness had taken over Amsterdam.

Cooking outside started to really grow on me though. So when I got back from fieldwork in Mozambique two years ago I decided to focus entirely on my catering company. In a way food had always been central to everything I had studied as a social scientist; from social inequality to sustainable agriculture and alternative rural education, all those themes were closely related to our food system.

So that’s how food became my weapon of choice in my pursuit for a more equal, healthy and friendly society.

I try to bring people together around good food and inspire them with the flavours and stories behind those flavours. Because sharing food and stories is just such a pleasant way to challenge ideas about our relationship with what we eat and with each other.

Nowadays I cater for events, parties and businesses more than for festival. I also organize dinners and cooking workshops at the Rietwijker. Recently I have been cooking a bit less and started to develop an education program about food. (If anyone has ideas about that they would like to share I would love to hear them!)

www.debakbrommer.com