Interview GeertKookt in reclamemagazine Adformatie

Buiten de keuken werk ik als freelance art director voor reclamebureaus en bedrijven. Adformatie is het vakblad voor de reclamebranche en heeft een rubriek 'Out of

Office'. Waarin mensen uit het vak worden geinterviewd over wat ze doen buiten hun werk.

English translation below

OUT OF OFFICE | With his own website and an Instagram account boasting nearly 18,000 followers, his hobby is increasingly turning professional.

By day he is an art director; by night he stands in the kitchen. Alone, focused, in his own domain. For Geert Ploeger, cooking is not a side activity or a quick way to unwind after work, but a serious second love. With his own website, an Instagram account approaching 18,000 followers, and collaborations with brands such as Bertolli and Beef Boutique, his hobby is steadily becoming more professional.

Ploeger has worked as a creative for over 28 years. His portfolio is diverse. “There’s plenty of work, although lately it’s been more unpredictable. Sometimes it’s very busy, sometimes completely quiet.” Perhaps that’s exactly why cooking has become such an important constant in his life. His interest began early.

“As a child, I was always standing next to my mother in the kitchen, watching and tasting. She was a very good cook.” The family lived in Amstelveen, with a large garden, chickens, and a vegetable patch. “I was fascinated that things came out of the ground that you could eat — and that they actually tasted good.”

At a young age, he took his first cooking workshop and interned at a restaurant in Hilversum. Unpaid, simply to learn. Cutting vegetables, doing small jobs, eating with the staff. “I was about 15 and learned an enormous amount there.” Years later, already working as a creative, he did it again. On weekends he helped out at restaurant Loup in Amsterdam’s Wolvenstraat, where a friend was head chef. “I wanted to learn techniques and understand flavor combinations. It was incredibly educational.”

That deepening of knowledge changed the way he cooked. When he lived near the Albert Cuyp market and built relationships with regular vendors there, everything started to come together. And that’s when plating entered the picture. “I’m an art director, so the food has to look good too.” Where the focus had first been on taste and technique, the urge to make dishes visually appealing soon followed. “I’m a perfectionist. The appearance of a dish is almost as important to me as the taste.”

That perfectionism eventually led to his own website, geertkookt.nl, and his Instagram page @geert_kookt. At first, he kept recipes in Excel, complete with photos, simply so he wouldn’t forget anything. But friends increasingly asked for recipes. His wife Rebecca posed the simple question: why not put it online? Soon after, Instagram followed. “I wasn’t on social media at all, but I thought: I already have the photos anyway.” Two years later, he has nearly 18,000 followers and a steady stream of enthusiastic responses.

What is his goal with the page? “I ask myself that regularly,” he says with a laugh. For now, he mainly cooks daily for his family, using pure and fresh ingredients — classic Mediterranean cuisine with his own twist. Meanwhile, more professional assignments are coming in. Recipe development for Bertolli (white label), content creation for Beef Boutique, and ongoing conversations with a salmon smokehouse in Urk and with Royal Belgian Caviar.

What cooking brings him is clear: peace. “It’s almost meditative. I completely immerse myself in it. Alone in the kitchen, my domain.” The parallels with his professional work are evident. “I present something more beautifully than it initially is.”

For the future, he dreams of further professionalizing this second love. For example, hosting plating workshops: teaching people how to make a dish visually attractive, independent of the cooking itself. “It would be fantastic if I could truly combine cooking and plating with my work as an art director.”