About me
My name is Bodhi Abbi (meaning awareness and fearlessness). I am an artist of life, taking different elements to create something that makes my soul happy. I work with food, music, (interior) design and photography. One of the biggest passions in my life is the beauty of small things: To create beauty, witness beauty, live life with beauty. I love to play with the senses. To experiment with colors, shapes and scents, putting them together to create something that is unique. I see this as simple alchemy, working with the various elements of life. My love of beauty and the senses infuses my work as a chef and as a creative being in this world. Whether I create food, music or sacred places.
My story
My curiosity for cooking started at an early age. I remember being around ten years old and starting to make salads for my father. I took all the different herbs and spices in the kitchen and carefully smelled them. I was curious what different combinations you could make of these fragrances. I developed a love for creativity with taste. Some years later I would walk around in the supermarket smelling the products to see what would match together.
In my 20's I did a lot of travelling and ended up in various communities with a mix of people from all over the world, getting to know new recipes every day. I would learn by carefully watching, asking advice and experimenting with influences of dishes that inspired me. This way I slowly developed my own style of cooking. I realised that my cooking was best when I allowed myself to play and to trust the process. I would use my sense of smell, taste and feelings to find the perfect balance for my dish. Cooking became a way of meditation and alchemy: a process in which I would make a little 'magic' creating something new from all these ingrediënts. A process in which I had to leave behind my mind and fully trust my senses. My feeling and knowledge for balancing flavors grew as I started to really get to know the products and discover more succesful combinations. I felt more and more comfortable creating delicious meals for others.
During my travels cooking often was my go-to-job to contribute to the community. I would get comfortable cooking for groups up to 40 people. After some years of doing this, I made my first steps into creating a bussiness out of my love for food. I discovered the magic of cooking for retreats. Something special happened when I started doing this work. Cooking for retreats felt like a way of holding space and literally nurturing the people who often were in transformative processes. This job felt in a way so sacred that it infused the quality of the food. Suddenly I started making food that was so much more vibrant and alive. It is something that I keep experiencing in my work as a retreat chef. I surrender to the process and let my creativity and intuition take me to create the best food to nurture the group. I see food as an art form and a way to express my love of life; the love for all the flavors, shapes and colors we can play with on this earth!