Piet Huysentruyt celebrates 60th birthday in Kortrijk

Television chef, writer, world traveler and businessman Piet Huysentruyt turns 60. “At 50 I had more, I’m not going to say depressed, but still like that’s half your life and from now on you go to the other half. And it’s shorter than 50, because you can be happy when you turn 70 or 80. Yes 60, let’s say with great enthusiasm ‘the new forty’,” he says.

Whether or not 60 years is a milestone in a person’s life, for Piet Huysentruyt it is in any case a good time to publish two new books, including a look back at what has been. In all those years, Huysentruyt has sold 3.6 million books in Flanders. Tonight family, friends and acquaintances will come together in a restaurant in Kortrijk to congratulate Piet on his birthday, his new book with 77 iconic dishes and his biography.

Perhaps what characterizes him most is his authenticity. Piet Huysentruyt is a West Fleming and no one can ignore that. “Sometimes I even have a hard time with people saying: where are you from? I say: don’t you hear that or what? And then I will emphasize the West Flemish accent even more,” it sounds.