Getting to Know: Marieke Brugman

Do you ever feel like flying away? Going somewhere different, seeing wondrous things? Breaking out of well-worn paths and trying something new?  Exposing your senses to exotic sensations …

Well you need to get to know Marieke Brugman who has done all of the above and is more than happy to take you with her next time she ‘flies away’ -

Marieke was co-founder and co-owner of the Howqua Dale Gourmet Retreat and Cooking School in Victoria. It was one of the first such luxury retreats in Australia and became the benchmark for many that followed - you may have read about it in many magazines and articles. Marieke was there for almost 30 years, principally as chef and cooking teacher. At the same time she also started taking tours to interesting and exciting destinations like India and Bhutan, Spain and France.

Since moving on from Howqua Dale, Marieke has concentrated even more on travel - creating and leading small tours that engage the body, mind and soul as you explore food and experience cultural excursions of every kind.

I haven’t yet been fortunate to go on one of her tours so I’ve compensated by following Marieke’s cooking classes at Accoutrement for many years now. They are exuberant occasions that totally reflect her personality as she cooks up an amazing array of dishes. Aromas fill the air, her travel tales mingle with recipe hints, food sizzles on the cook top … Last class was a ‘hands-on’ Rahjistani feast with many dishes to be cooked and eaten at the shared table. It was inspired by her last trip there and some of the women in the class were keen to book in for a tour to India with her - lucky things!

Marieke, in her fifties, approaches life with gusto. No holding back - just continual exploring and learning. She’s curious about the world and open to its challenges. Settle down with your cup of coffee and enjoy the opportunity to read about Marieke and how she goes about living her life …

Marieke, can you tell us a little about your background?
Well, I was born in Melbourne to Dutch parents and educated by the nuns at Sacre Coeur. After leaving school at 17 I traveled overseas and studied Art History in England … then came back to Australia four years later. This was the 1970’s when there were limited opportunities to use an Art History degree so I sort of fell into food and cooking since I love both.

During the 1980’s I became involved with community projects in Mansfield Victoria, near the Howqua Dale Retreat. I’m very proud of the social and community development projects I worked on whilst there. Everything I did focused on the whole community, from children to the elderly, primarily with food and cooking as the focus. There were environmental education projects as well.

Around this time I was invited onto the Victorian Women’s Trust where I facilitated entrepreneurship with women - a role I just loved and I have also chaired two symposiums of Gastronomy and co-chaired The Australasian Regional Wine and Food Tourism Network.

Now I concentrate on taking tours to amazing parts of the world where I and my fellow travelers can immerse our senses in the culture around us.

In your cooking classes and on your website I feel that you delight in engaging all the senses - what are your favourites?

• Sight - ‘my beach’ south of Melbourne where I now live
• Smell - all white flowers - roses, gardenias, tuber roses, freesias …
• Touch - silk or linen - hmm…I can’t decide which
• Taste - I just love anything bitter. Campari, which most people would say is bitter enough, doesn’t come close to an Italian drink called Fernet Branca which I adore. It’s a thousand times more bitter that Campari. It goes without saying that I love raddichio, whitlof …
• Sound - the ocean

Travel is obviously a passion that has become your work too. What do you think are the essential things about travel?

• It shows you that the world is so much more connected than you imagine
• It takes you out of yourself
• You begin to appreciate that planet earth is facing so many difficulties
• You can observe the responses of various peoples to their environment

Who go on your tours?

It’s a mix of couples and singles - sometimes a parent brings their teenage child. They range in age from mid-30’s to mid-70’s and are generally fit, well-educated, inquisitive, adventurous and eager for  any experience.
My groups have from 6 or 8 participants to a maximum of 20, depending on the tour, and much regard is given to the individual, though the greater good of the group remains always paramount.

What is your favourite destination?

Oh, India without a doubt!  Its sheer timelessness amazes me constantly. I just love the way India makes me feel. I used to say the north and desert areas of India but having travelled to the south more recently, I love there too! And I love the Indian people - their language, their humour and generosity. They celebrate life despite living in grinding poverty.

Are there issues you’re really passionate about?

Ah, here are some things that I feel strongly about:

• The politics of food is a huge problem. - how it is projected to us in the media and how we perceive it in our lives. I know that here in Australia we are able to eat well but we’re not doing it. We live in a food paradise and yet many would rather spend three hours watching TV than 20 minutes making a fresh salad. Obesity and diabetes are only going to increase.

• Our obsession with celebrity chefs and cooking - food as entertainment - has affected our attitudes. Cooking is not seen as something simple that we should be involved with on a daily basis. People’s relationship with food is changing. Although some are more aware of where food comes from, organics, sustainability etc the majority will get their food from big companies who are on the message and convince you that they are the source of fresh food.There is incredible indifference, laziness and lack of education when it comes to food and cooking.

• Our relationship with the environment is another passion

• Our sense of personal responsibility and self-awareness is another

What would be a great simple salad for you?

I love my asparagus and mushroom salad (I’ll post her recipe soon)

Are there women you admire?
This is an ever-evolving landscape but I can mention two women who have touched my life in significant ways -

• The first was my German teacher at school. She was Czech and had escaped from the Second World War. She had a phenomenal intellect and she opened my eyes to many things. It’s one of the wisdoms of the nuns at Sacre Coeur that they gave employment to such women from Europe when it would have been almost impossible for them to get a job with the state government at that time.

• The other woman I met some years ago when I was on the Victorian Women’s Trust. She’s a great thinker, very involved with issues like the Peace Movement and a great bush walker. We often enjoy walks together. When I was going through a difficult phase in my life she was there and as a friend gave me enormous support and permission to be.

What are your favourite books?
I read probably three books a week and I try to regularly update my website with comments on books that I’ve found to be fantastic. I can say that I recently read Erica Yong’s Fear of 50 which is her biography and I thought it was fabulous.

I loved The Slap too. I think the way the author Christos Tsiolkas was able to get into the head of the eight or so main characters is brilliant. I’ve heard that many can’t even finish the book but for me it was a great read.

Other reading material I adore is Indian literature which I gather every time I’m over there. You can imagine how much there is!

What about films?
I watch about 4 films a week (I haven’t followed TV for 30 yrs) so it’s impossible to think of naming specific ones!

What do you do to relax?
Now that I live near the ocean I love to walk along the beach and as you can imagine I love to read and watch movies.

I know that many women are still not convinced that the internet can offer them anything. What do you think?
I’m a big fan of the internet and on my website you’ll see under ‘Links’ many websites that I think are well worth looking at. I particularly love  wordswithoutborders.org - it translates foreign language literature into English thereby offering some wonderful writers an avenue for publication they would otherwise not have.

What choices have you made now that you’ve turned fifty? How would you like to live your life from now on?

• At 50 I took up yoga. It has been the greatest salve, not just for its physical benefits but because of the spiritual and philosophical insights the study of yoga avails. 
I chose peace and freedom.

• I have moved to be near the sea because I needed somewhere to walk and meditate and have access to the lessons of nature, not truly found in the consumer-oriented city.

• I grow vegetables and herbs and have recently added some fruit trees. I only want to use water on plants that are productive in some way so I’m learning a whole new way of gardening.

• I am trying to perfect the art of simplicity and remaining in a state of vitality and wellness. I think the Buddhists and the Hindus get it right, in terms of life’s purpose. Happiness relates very much to detachment and not to what we want, but rather what we give.

• I would like life to be more about creativity and connectedness and less about the imperative of remuneration and security.

What is your attitude to growing older?
At the moment my aged mother, who I’ve been very close to all my life is declining in health. Dealing with her issues and her quality of life has made me realize there are lots of things about being close to the journey towards death that you can learn from. Ironically it makes you feel so alive. I want to feel the joy of wisdom and swallow the fear and panic.

What does happiness mean to you?
Peaceful self-knowledge

Few of us live in isolation. What relationships do you have that sustain you in life?

• I have a core group of friends (mostly women, but also some men) who accept me through all travails and triumphs, who I do not necessarily see so often but with whom I stay in contact through letters and phone calls and meaningful time together when it is possible. And we all expect to become old together!

• I have a strong bond with my mother and even though she has mild dementia and is physically much diminished, our love and connection goes on being a storehouse of insights for me. It is also the only unconditional love I have known.

• I have young friends I have known since they were babies and try and remain their Auntie Mame.

• I left a 30-year relationship I once thought was unbreakable and so learned an immense lesson about impermanence as well as realizing our greatest challenge is how we are in quiet moments with ourselves.
• I am currently blessed to have a special person in my life, who happens to be a very much younger woman, but who has taught me the value of cherishing and being cherished, and of stillness. It has been a gift and a blessing in unexpected happiness and light in my life.

• And my family, through thick and thin.

Inspiring quotes are very noticeable on your website. What would your quote be?

Try to live in a heightened state of self-knowing where past regrets are resolved and hurts forgiven
Remain open to change, new experiences and to love
Stay connected to family friends, community and nature
Trust your instincts
Give gratitude for life
Devote an hour a day to your self
Keep learning, laughing and live gracefully with compassion

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