Brief Background

I was born and raised in Nigeria.

Nigerian food culture is diverse and food is a big part of her lifestyle.

My earliest memory of cooking was at age 9, making lunch after school; boiling rice and generally helping my mum out in the kitchen. I picked up my mise en place skills around her and that has been great for my journey to Chefness!

My mum had a bunch of cookbooks from the UK where she had studied. The pictures in them were amazing! They were different from what I was used to and I wanted to cook and eat like that! The ingredients at the time were either unavailable or expensive.

I started playing around with recipes early in life, making substitutions where I could, and still making dishes that were inspired and flavourful. I have lived in different cities around the world since then, and I still encounter ingredients that blow my mind! My cooking is an adventure in itself.

But it turned out to be more than adventure! It became about saving myself from a health condition. It became about creating fun things for me, family and friends that are attuned to the peculiar circumstances and tastes.

In 2006, I was diagnosed with PCOS, which is an endocrine disorder that affects your life totally. It’s a big bully! Research showed that there was no cure; only lifestyle changes would be helpful for managing the symptoms. This meant I couldn’t be careless about my food anymore.

I had to cut down on processed food and sugars.

I had to learn to eat new things to compensate for all the food I was cutting down from my diet. For example, I wanted to eat lentils or quinoa to replace white rice and I needed recipes. I started collecting recipes from dinner tables, chefs, the internet and cookbooks from all around the world.

After several years of struggling for balance with my food and overall health, I have come to enjoy cooking and eating good food. I stopped eliminating ingredients and food groups. Now I eat everything but in proportion to their glycaemic index and load. I pay attention to colours on my plate, nutrition, bold flavours and texture.

This passion for food couldn’t be ignored anymore! I went Culinary to and trained to become a chef! Now I am ……..certified. Here you can be sure to get the expert touch that will hopefully make the desired difference to your enjoyment of food while staying healthy.

Cheers!

A J