ABOUT

Intro

Hello everyone, welcome to my culinary world! My name is Annely Meijer and I’m a passionate home cook who loves creating recipes. Here is a little peek into my journey and how Forketti came to life.

My Roots

I’m a foodie born and raised in the north of the Netherlands; Groningen. From a young age, I found joy in exploring the culinary world. My early attempts often resulted in dishes that were made of plastic and therefore inedible. But I have improved my cooking skills to where it is today with lots of practice and a lot of culinary disasters along the way.

Life in Italy

My culinary journey developed when I moved to Italy. There I explored the traditional Italian cuisine and its simplicity. I first spend a few months in 2009 for a summer job in the south of Tuscany, where I worked as a courier on a campsite. I enjoyed that and decided to go for another camping job the following summer in the north of Italy; Lake Garda. That was a beautiful summer as well, I felt my personality and interests matched well with the Italian culture and that made me decide to do a 6 months internship in Florence. I worked as a wedding and event planner for a company located in the beautiful district of Santa Croce. After that I concluded, Italy stole my heart – and my stomach – and after those short trials I decided to move to Italy.

I decided to go back to Florence, but this time to a more quiet hood. I moved to the south of Florence. There I lived with a Canadian-Italian woman who had a big country house close to the famous Chianti wine region. It was a beautiful place, with a huge garden, just a 10-minute scooter ride from the historic city center. She needed a companion, and I needed an affordable place to live. We got along very well. I cooked for her daily and we shared many wonderful meals, while she taught me how to dance the twist. It was a perfect cultural exchange.

I loved driving around on the old silver Piaggo scooter which I found in their garage, and fully embraced the Italian lifestyle. We picked olives and turned it into olive oil and ate as if it was Christmas everyday. I learned to take the time to create a meal and use seasonal ingredients. I learned how to embrace the process as much as the results, how to pick the right products and last but not least; how to be a good host.

The Italian food culture inspired me to have a different approach on food. Italians approach food with passion, taking each meal as an opportunity to connect with loved ones. It is for most people the highlight of their day and I adopted that vision.

My Italian adventure influenced and elevated my cooking style and my philosophy, and I will carry those lessons with me. I loved life in Italy, but decided to move back to the Netherlands to start my working career in the fashion industry.

Life in Berlin

Fast forward to today, I now call Berlin home. This is where I record all of my recipes, in my tiny apartment in Friedrichshain. That’s where I draft and craft my culinary creations and where friends come over for tasting sessions.

Berlin is an international city and its diverse culinary landscape has been a joy to explore. I enjoy cycling to Neukölln for a traditional Ethiopian meal, grabbing street food at Markthalle Neun on a Thursday evening, catching up with my besties at “the bagel place”, or meeting my friends at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant.

YouTube

I started sharing my recipes on YouTube in late 2019, under the name Forketti. I made up the name Forketti myself. It combines “Fork” with an Italian twist, reflecting my love for the Italian cuisine.

I can still remember creating my first 5 videos and uploading them all at once to YouTube. I didn’t let anyone see them before they went live and my heart raced as I switched the visibility to public.

Back then I committed to upload a new recipe every week. This routine continued until spring 2021 when I experienced a small accident that had a big impact; my recovery was long due to unforeseen complications. It lasted over three years and involved 4 surgeries, along with a substantial amount of money, tears and pain. But I learned a lot during my recovery. I discovered how to ask for help and how to safely climb stairs on crutches. I realised that physiotherapists do much more than just help our grandparents with exercises, and that changing the bed sheets while being in the bed is nearly impossible with a broken leg. But despite this setback, Forketti gradually grew and brought me joy during those dark days of my life.

Each video is a challenge to improve and I aim to make each new video better than the previous one. I still work alone and love the flexibility and spontaneity it brings. My goal is to make my videos as short as possible, keeping the focus on the recipes. My recipes are designed to be easy and accessible, avoiding fancy equipment so everyone can enjoy cooking. I occasionally mix music for my videos, which has been so fun! Sometimes I record on location and that adds another layer of excitement, as it requires planning and improvisation. It challenges my creativity in a different way, but so far I am quite satisfied with the outcome of those videos.

Starting Forketti is one of the best things that happened in my life and it keeps getting better. It merges my passions for cooking, photography, videography and music, and allows me to connect with people who share the same passion.

My Other Love: Traveling

I have a deep love for backpacking and traveling on a low budget. I enjoy buying an one-way ticket, taking my backpack and travel to a place I haven’t been before. During these trips I find adventure, flavours, stories and connections. Something what gives me energy and inspiration.

While I travel I gather my knowledge through different resources. I visit farms, markets, street food stands, local grocery stores and hidden restaurants. Visiting farms makes me understand how the local produce is growing and what factors influence the grow and condition of the produce. Going to a grocery store abroad brings me joy, I love entering a store alone and exploring item by item. It’s nearly like visiting a museum with edible art!

Whether it’s cooking in Chiang Mai, doing a Pastel de Nata course in a bakery in Portugal, cooking with a local in Sri Lanka or exploring a pepper farm in Cambodia, each adventure has added a new layer of flavour and technique to my recipes. I enjoy learning about life, expanding my knowledge, wisdom and friend circle.

Inspiration & Cooking Style

I mostly get inspired by my travels, by the new ingredients I discover, techniques I learn and traditional dishes I eat. As mentioned earlier, I always take multiple cooking classes when visiting a new country and plan to continue this practice. With countless ingredients and dishes to explore, I believe there is always something new to learn. Additionally, I find inspiration in dining at restaurants, talking to chefs and cooks, reading cookbooks and blogs, experimenting in my kitchen, and cooking and eating with friends.

As a pescatarian who hasn’t eaten meat in 20 years, my focus is on vegetarian and fish dishes. You find on my blog a variety of traditional recipes with an unique Forketti twist. Many recipes are vegetarian friendly and some of them vegan friendly. It’s not my goal to convert meat eaters into vegetarians, therefore you could also alter the recipes by using ‘real’ meat instead of meat substitutes I use in some of the recipes.

My Mission & Vision

I am writing this text in October 2024, just before the launch of Forketti’s second website. The first site was informative, but this time I aim to offer more. I have now added my recipes in written form and grouped them in categories. I wanted a user-friendly recipe page that doesn’t require endless scrolling, where you can easily find instructions and ingredients, adjust quantities and units, and print the recipes. Additionally, I hope to provide entertainment by adding music, hosting tips and sharing my food stories in blog posts.

I want cooking to be enjoyable and accessible to everyone. My mission is to share my recipes with the world for free, making delicious meals achievable without complicated tools or techniques, rare ingredients or culinary jargon. I want to show how fun and meditative cooking can be and hope to inspire people to explore their culinary creativity by keeping it low key and simple.

We recently hit over one million views on YouTube and are slowly reaching the 10k followers milestone. I hope to continue growing Forketti and reach a broader audience. There is currently a monthly viewership of 30-40k worldwide, with most viewers coming from English speaking countries like the USA, UK, Canada and India. The channel is growing exponentially in views and also recently gains more viewership from European countries.

My goal for 2025 is to level up the production quality by improving my home studio and my equipment, which will allow me to make faster content and increase the quality. Additionally, I would like to increase the revenue streams of Forketti. If you wish to collaborate as a sponsor or want to donate, then please reach out through the contact page.

Thanks for reading and getting to know me. Thank you for your support — without you, Forketti would not be where it is today. Please keep sharing my recipes on social media and keep speaking about Forketti to your friends and family.

Thanks again, big love for you all, back to the kitchen!

Connect with Me
Enough about me — I would love to hear from you! Where are you reading this from and what is your favourite dish? Where is your favourite restaurant located? I keep a list of restaurant recommendations on Google Maps, so please share with me your recommendation and I will pin it. Your stories and favourite recipes inspire me and I look forward to read your message! Also, feel free to share any other questions and thoughts in the comment section below.