Culinary tips from our new columnist Amandine Geers

A foot in the garden, with his mother. The other in the kitchen, watching his father's actions. This is how, rooted in the Solognot region, Amandine Geers grew up. She started by playing in this setting before observing it and launching into her first harvests, which were then prepared on the grill. But it was further west, in Niort (Deux-Sèvres), and a few years later that his family heritage bore all its fruit. He mapped out his career path. Author and culinary photographer, facilitator of cooking workshops and curious gardener, she has published more than fifty books in barely twenty years, mainly with Terre Vivante editions. She now cultivates three vegetable plots. One of 250 m2 nestled between two arms of the Sèvre, rented for almost two years to the Deux-Sèvres horticultural society; the other, more modest, within the Vent d’Ouest solidarity and plural gardens; the last at the foot of his companion's house. In these lands amended by floods, enriched by the sharing of good gestures and worked in tandem, Amandine Geers holds nothing back. And gropes with joy: planting perpetual vegetables, “lasagna” cultivation, square reserved for syntropy (agronomic approach aimed at creating productive ecosystems by imitating natural processes).

The taste of wild plants

At 52, she is on all fronts. From the garden to the stove, there is only one step. His patiently acquired nutritional knowledge perfects the balance of his dishes. With a savory rather than sweet tooth, this mother of a young student relies on her intuition, her past experiences and the products at her disposal to delight the taste buds. Her dishes combine notes from elsewhere, particularly from South-East Asia, aromatic herbs and seeds, but also wild plants and flowers that she has learned to recognize, harvest and combine. With her slogan in favor of a cuisine combining “pleasure, health and ecological common sense”, Amandine Geers should delight you, dear readers.