The well-known TV chef Nadia Zerouali is going on a Walk of Wisdom pilgrimage in the spring and will contribute to our new book On the Road to Wisdom. Nadia has written several cookbooks and in 2016 was one of the initiators of a movement against polarization in society (Ieder1). Nadia has a bicultural background (Moroccan/Dutch) and speaks as we say in Dutch “with her heart on her tongue” (candid and straight). Eating together connects is her message, and according to her the essence of cooking is sharing: preparing food for someone else with love and then eating it together.

We didn’t know Nadia Zerouali until we saw her in the television series about the Walk of Wisdom by Klaas Drupsteen. She walked with him from Beek to Kranenburg and in twenty minutes made us both cry and laugh – what a beautiful and rich combination.

What a nice person – we also thought: we would like to have her in our new book! We sent her an email and she said yes almost immediately. In May she will go for a Walk of Wisdom: she calls it “me-time”. A week retreat after months of hard work.

Book

In our forthcoming Pilgrim’s Book of Hours, On the Road to Wisdom, we gather some of the pilgrims’ individual experiences in a book. We use fragments of pilgrim reports and poems interspersed with art. Especially for the book we invite inspiring people to walk the route and write a contribution. Theater maker Nynke Laverman is participating and now also Nadia Zerouali. More names will come up soon.

Couscous, from cauliflower

We immediately got a book from her: Arabia. When I visited one of our web volunteers, I chose an easy dish for lunch: cauliflower couscous – we have thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting: in Moroccan cuisine too much is cooked as standard, so there is always food for someone who just drops by. What remains is shared with the neighborhood. Nice! Powerful advice for preparing grain couscous: do not soak, but steam!

Watch the episode with Nadia Zerouali on the tv-series about the Walk of Wisdom.