After completing culinary school in the Netherlands, Freek (pronounced “Frake”) Van Den Brenk went backpacking and adventuring for several years throughout Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Canada, the United States and South America. He got a taste of the world, and a taste of its cuisine, before ending up on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, preparing food at a beach club.

“As Curaçao is a Dutch island, it was easy to get a work visa,” Van Den Brenk says. “My life was fun, but I knew I needed more of a challenge.”

Curaçao is a popular cruise ship port, and Van Den Brenk applied for a line cook position on the upmarket Seabourn line. He ended up aboard a ship for three years—and met his future wife among the crew. Then, the pandemic halted Seabourn’s trips, forcing him to find other work.

“I discovered the world of yachts through a friend,” he says. His first job was as third chef on the 267-foot (81.2-meter) Oceanco Alfa Nero. Then, he became sous chef on the 282-foot (86-meter) Oceanco/Vitters Aquijo.

In a way, the work at sea brought him back to his childhood in the Netherlands. Van Den Brenk grew up in Schaijk, a small town in the south. His parents sent him to sailing and surfing camp during summers when he was a boy.

“I cannot really claim that I was an avid sailor as an adult,” he says. “Nothing really prepared me for the tremendous sailing experience aboard one of the largest sailing yachts in the world.”

He says he felt lucky to be sous chef aboard Aquijo, but when the opportunity arose to be head chef on the 183-foot (55.9-meter) Perini Navi Zenji, he took it.

“Working on Zenji is pretty demanding when on charter or with the boss,” he says. “There are very long days in the galley, but I feel grateful to be working with a great captain and crew on a wonderful boat.”

Cooking is second nature to Van Den Brenk. His parents owned a restaurant called De Notaris in his hometown. They have since retired and sold it, but De Notaris was a family affair. Van Den Brenk’s father was the chef, and his mother managed the front of the house.

“We lived above the restaurant,” he recalls. “I was always hanging out there, and when I was perhaps 13 or 14 years old, I would work in the kitchen after school, learning about the business while making a little pocket cash.”

The menu was classic French and Dutch. His father, as early as the 1970s, sourced ingredients from local farms with sustainable practices and respect for livestock. Nowadays, Van Den Brenk says, the term “farm to table” has become a bit of a cliché, but he has taken his father’s teachings to heart in his own culinary practices.

Van Den Brenk says his culinary training at a four-year school was good, “but it was my upbringing in the hospitality field that instilled in me a profound love of food and making people happy by cooking for them.” 

Q&A with Chef Van Den Break

You have traveled far and wide since your early 20s. Where do you call home now?
My wife, whom I met while working on a cruise ship, is from Botswana, so we have settled there. It’s a beautiful country.

If you were to make a meal for friends at home, what would be your go-to dish?
Well, in Botswana, 90 percent of the time you would have what is called braai. It’s Afrikaans for barbecue, with grilled meats usually cooked over an aromatic wood fire.

What is your typical daytime routine?
While working on board Zenji, I am usually in the galley by 6 a.m. When at home in Botswana, I rise at 4:30 or 5 a.m. and go for a 45-minute morning hike up the hill behind our home. I rise early to have time to either plan my menus or simply to have time to myself to collect my thoughts.

What is your personal favorite cuisine?
That’s a hard one. I love Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, as well as Thai and Peruvian. The best ceviche I ever had was in Peru.

What kind of music do you listen to in the galley?
When I am cooking, I like to focus, so I keep it pretty quiet in the galley. But when the guests are done and it is clean-up time, I listen to hip-hop, old rock and pop.

If you were not a chef, what other profession would you have considered?
Well, really, I always just wanted to be a chef, but I enjoy doing some light carpentry. I’ll use those skills working on the new house my wife and I are building in Botswana.

What stock items or condiments do you always like to have on hand in the galley?
Naturally, I have my set of knives, but also a special blender for making sauces. I also like to have fresh herbs such as basil and parsley. And growing up in the Netherlands, with so much Indonesian influence, I always have a bottle of Sambal Oelek—the best chili paste.

Have you had requests to make dishes you did not know how to make? 
We had guests from Georgia [near the Black Sea] who wanted some of their traditional stews and soups. I research food on chef apps, so I read about Georgian food, put my own twist on the traditional fare, and the guests claimed it was the best they ever had.

What is the strangest food request you ever received? 
Well-done beef carpaccio. Hah! 

Zenji

Zenji is a 183-foot (55.9-meter) Perini Navi that launched in 2004 and was refitted in 2022. The yacht accommodates 12 charter guests in six staterooms at a weekly base rate of €240,000 ($262,000).

For more information: cecilwright.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2024 issue.