Johannes Franciscus "Joop" Braakhekke (11 April 1941 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch chef, restaurateur, television presenter and author.

Life

Braakhekke was born in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

in the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts. The Ve ...

, where he grew up. As a child he wanted to become an actor, but eventually settled on becoming a restaurateur. After high school he went to Paris and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to learn culinary arts. In 1968 he returned to the Netherlands and worked as a restaurateur, first in Apeldoorn, at the

bistro A bistro or bistrot , is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant, serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. French home-style cooking, and slow-cooked foods ...

''Le Philosophe'', and then in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, at ''De Kersentuin'', ''Le Garage'', and ''En Pluche''. For five years beginning in 1993 Braakhekke was a presenter on the popular television cooking program ''Kookgek'', and wrote a cookbook.

Trivia

In December 2008 Braakhekke won the Loden Leeuw prize for appearing in an

air freshener Air fresheners are consumer products that typically emit fragrance and are used in homes or commercial interiors such as restrooms, foyers, hallways, vestibules and other smaller indoor areas, as well as larger areas such as hotel lobbies, auto d ...

advertisement in the Netherlands.The 30-second advertisement itself. The prize is awarded to the most annoying celebrity in a television commercial.

References

1941 births 2016 deaths Businesspeople from Amsterdam Dutch autobiographers Dutch chefs Dutch food writers Dutch health and wellness writers Dutch television presenters Dutch male writers LGBT writers from the Netherlands LGBT entertainers from the Netherlands LGBT businesspeople from the Netherlands Dutch restaurateurs Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands People from Apeldoorn Writers from Amsterdam {{Netherlands-writer-stub