‘Woeste Goesting’ (Wild craving) shows the culinary adventure of Christine Roelofs, who spent over 15 years exploring culinary biodiversity. Many of the things we eat nowadays cannot be grown in our environment. Christine decided in 2007 to only cook with products and crops that can be grown right here, in our cold soil. Defining the possibilities required her to be creative and resourceful. She developed her own distinctive style with many unusual ingredients and products.
She created an edible garden at her house in the Belgian Kempen region, and from 2009 onwards she also organised seasonal gastronomic dinners in her garden, always close to the source and in contact with the harvest and the environment.
Christine has a background as an artist and therefore always had her camera at the ready when she was working in the garden, in the kitchen and in nature. Her photos are raw, direct depictions of her activities and products, often surprising and of great beauty.
Although it contains numerous exciting recipes, ‘Woeste goesting’ is not a traditional cookbook. It's a culinary photography book about the journey that the ingredients underwent. From the story on your plate to the sensation in your mouth. Christine shares her growth process and her wealth of acquired knowledge, to show how incredibly rich the culinary biodiversity is in our part of the world.
