Advertise on podcast: Uncooked Women

Before Nigerian food can take its place on the world stage, there's work to do at home. Nearly 70% of food shipped abroad gets rejected over poor trade facilitation, and 60-65% of harvests are lost before they even reach a market. Nigeria exports raw ingredients, but struggles to export finished, shelf-stable products. In this episode of Uncooked Women, two Nigerian-owned hospitality brands are working through what it actually takes to fix that: from harvest, to processing, to service.Adaorah Oduah sits down with Chef Wunmi Durosinmi-Etti (founder, Ounje Co.) and Chef Vanessa Cole (founder, Cole Cooks), hospitality connoisseurs whose careers span London to Lagos, to talk about what hospitality truly means and why service and emotion sit at its center. They discuss the state of fine dining in Lagos, the philosophies guiding their respective practices, and what it takes to turn Nigerian raw ingredients into shelf-stable, exportable products.In this episode: • What hospitality really means, from omakase to chewing sticks• The state of fine dining and private dining in Nigeria • Why Nigeria exports raw materials instead of finished products • Post-harvest loss, poor transport & the case for local manufacturing • Building Nigerian-owned hospitality brands on their own termsWatch the full episode on Youtube to learn more about what it takes to build a culinary business in Nigeria.

How did a food blog started to promote a small business end up on Anthony Bourdain's radar? Food innovator Atim Ukoh, known as Afrolems, shares how her blog became a launchpad for a feature on the Lagos episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, where she, her mother, Iquo Ukoh, and Ozoz Sokoh made Nigerian food history on screen.In this episode of Uncooked Women, Adaorah Oduah talks with Atim about innovation and versatility in Nigerian cooking, the Lagos culinary scene, and the Memories on a Platter cookbook. It's a love letter to Nigerian food, from the lessons the cuisine has taught her to the influence of her mother and grandmother on her love for it. In this episode: • How Afrolems began as a blog and became a career • What being featured on Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown meant • Food innovation and new ways to use egusi, ripe plantains, and efirin • The story behind the Memories on a Platter cookbook • Versatility and the love language of Nigerian cuisine • How her mother and grandmother shaped her cooking Watch the full episode on YouTube to hear how Atim Ukoh built Afrolems and the experiences that have shaped her journey with Nigerian food. Follow the show on: Instagram: @Uncookedwomen Tiktok: @Uncookedwomen

10 years ago, Chef Nkesi Enyioha launched HSE Gourmet, a rare Nigerian-owned, woman-built restaurant serving gourmet comfort food inspired by her travels, from aromatic pho to a hearty beef pot pie.  What started as a private catering service became a cafe, then almost by accident, a full restaurant, and today, HSE is a homegrown staple of Lagos' dining scene. In this episode, Adaorah Oduah talks with Chef Nkesi about a decade of building on her own terms: why she's stopped chasing "authenticity" for authenticity's sake (jollof rice debates included), how a plate of Orh Luak on a Singapore street corner reshaped how she thinks about Nigerian flavors, and the lessons she picked up co-leading Ohuru and Sabor. In this episode:  • The accidental beginnings of HSE Gourmet  • Why "authentic" is the wrong question to ask about West African food  • How a Singaporean oyster omelette influenced her own cooking  • Building a women-centered business and staying resilient  • What 10 years as a founder, across HSE Gourmet, Sabor and once upon a time Ohuru, really taught her Watch the full episode on YouTube to hear the story behind HSE Gourmet and the evolution of one of Lagos' most interesting culinary entrepreneurs Follow the show on  Instagram: @Uncookedwomen TikTok: @Uncookedwomen

Why did an imported seasoning cube become a kitchen staple across West Africa while Iru aka dawdawa, the umami-rich fermented locust bean used across West African cuisine, never got the same shot? In this Season 2 premiere of Uncooked Women, award-winning food writer Adaorah Oduah sits down with Chef Moyo Akinbo, founder of the Atije Experience and winner of The Kitchen Season 1, and a researcher exploring sustainable indigenous West African food systems, to unpack that gap and what it reveals about how we eat today. The conversation traces Moyo's path from culinary school in Switzerland to founding yAtije, a multi-course dining experience that reimagines indigenous ingredients and educates diners on the stories of the female farmers holding up West Africa's food systems with little support, and what "decolonizing the way we eat" actually looks like. It opens up into the bigger story behind the inadequate agricultural infrastructure that leads to post-harvest loss and quietly costs West African farmers, many of them women, a huge share of what they grow before it ever reaches our markets or plates. Follow the show on Instagram: @Uncookedwomen TikTok: @Uncookedwomen

Chef Wu keeps it spicy in and out of the kitchen. After running a successful Afro-Caribbean food catering business in London, she moved to Lagos to start Oùnję Co. — her hospitality consultancy firm. Braised ox cheek pepper soup, and plantain brûlée are some of the dishes she serves at private dinners, and on the side, she’s on a mission to make Nigerian hospitality better ‘One Bite at a Time’. She chats with Ada & Lamisko about moving to Lagos and standing on (food) business.

Cobi-Jane Akinrele wants Nigerian female farmers to get paid. She’s the founder of The Aké Collective, a health and wellness company that’s making fonio more accessible. After leaving the Cambridge countryside for Lagos, she planned to start an agri-tech business in Jos after completing her NYSC. But, when she met women growing and selling fonio for extra income, she changed plans and business models. Ada & Lamisko dig into her work to promote women’s wellness.

Jumoke Toyobo makes a delicious garri sorbet. Known in the kitchen as Chef TYB, she’s a private chef and restaurant consultant who serves immersive dining experiences with menus that match her diverse culinary background. From pub kitchens in Portsmouth to Michelin starred restaurants in London, and now recently back from a gastro-tour of North America, she joins Ada & Lamisko to chat about the art of eba and her journey to becoming a chef.

Inside Chef FT’s Toronto apartment, you’ll find him serving guests fusions like banga risotto with sea snails, and garri tostadas finished with a honey bean puree. What started as a barbecuing gig evolved into Lamuren Inc., his company that curates contemporary Nigerian dining experiences across Toronto, and most recently New York. Ada & Lamisko dig into his life as a product designer by day and chef by night, living and cooking in Canada, and his supper club responsible for putting rectangular akara on all our TikTok feeds.

Mosun Aderinokun, and her elder brother Dare, are the brains and bartenders behind Quacktails - a mobile cocktail bar and delivery service that’s refining the classics with fresh syrups and seasonal produce, while also mixing up signature cocktails like the Sapele ginger and the Okoroshi. Ada & Lamisko kick-back with co-founder Mosun who walks them through the ABCs of drinking, a brief history of cocktails, and how Quacktails was born.

Anjola Awosika has one of the most mouthwatering Instagram accounts in Nigeria. If you’ve eaten it, Anjola has most likely shot it. He tells Nigerian food stories through photography and film and is elevating West African food, one shot at a time. Ada & Lamisko dig their way into his journey from baker to blogger and finally founder of Ata Rodo Magazine.

Ada and Lamisko are officially back from sabbatical! Their kitchen, now under new management, presents the menu for this episode: Nigerian-Kazakh-Surinamese fusion origin stories, lightly roasted ex-business partners, and the podcast lore as the final apéritif. Enjoy!

When Nestle and Unilever introduced Maggi and Knorr bouillon cubes to West Africa almost 70 years ago, they took over an informal umami market run mostly by women. Before bouillon, we used fermented beans and seeds like iru and ogili, to deepen the flavours of our soups and stews. Today, both Maggi and Knorr market their seasoning cubes to Nigerian women as a means to the end of modern womanhood - a mythical destination where women can do it all in spite of the patriarchy on their necks. However, a closer look at the colonial histories that built these companies tells a different story - a story of marketing language co-opted and cherry-picked from feminist movements to advance corporate gain.

In Nigeria, street food means tasty portable snacks like Àkàrà and Suya, but it also means bowls of pepper soup and loaded plates of rice and stew served from the many bukas that crowd street corners. Street food culture is run by the city with the most streets - Lagos, the port city that used to be a center for international trade. These Lagos streets keep most of Nigeria's working population fed, but food in the country is getting more expensive than it has ever been due to rising food inflation. We sat down with Ayoola Oladipupo - a food writer that explores the cultural economics of Nigerian food - to talk about Lagos Island joints, the best spot to get amala in Ibadan, and also to understand why exactly Nigeria’s food is getting more expensive.  Follow us on social media @uncookedwomen to keep up with our food adventures

The West African jollof wars are friendly internet banter about an umami-rich rice dish beloved across the region. When we’re not fighting about who makes it best, we’re reluctantly agreeing that the region owes the recipe to Senegal, the real winners of the Jollof war.  Food historian, writer, photographer, and all-round jollof connoisseur, Ozoz Sokoh, joins us to talk about the significance of West Africa’s favourite dish beyond the plate and across the region. When a grain shortage in Senegal led Penda Mbaye, a chef in a colonial kitchen, to substitute barley for rice in her one-pot dish of tomatoes, vegetables, and fish, she would go on to make West African food history. Her dish was a reaction to a grain shortage caused by the French who were using the farms to grow and export peanuts - a cash crop that has made France a wealthy western power.  On this episode, we’re talking about the real Jollof war, the one between Senegal and France.  Follow us on social media @Uncookedwomen to keep up with our food adventures. Learn more about rice in Senegal here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/t-magazine/senegal-homegrown-rice.html

Amos Shackleford initially arrived in Lagos from Jamaica to work on the railroads, but he would go on to make Nigerian food history. When Shackleford started his bakery from Ebute Metta in the 1920s, he would use his business savvy to feed a growing appetite for bread across the country. On this episode we stop by one of our favorite restaurants in Lagos - Jamksi - to eat some hardo bread, the ancestor of Nigerian Agege bread, and also to learn about the history Jamaicans and Nigerians share. Our story starts from a Queen who led a rebellion against the British in Jamaica and takes us to Lagos, Russia and right back to Lagos where we’ll make a final stop at the Wheatbaker hotel.  Follow us on Instagram⁠ ⁠@uncookedwomen⁠⁠ and tell us what you’re eating Find the documentary here:⁠ ⁠Where Did Agege Bread Come From?⁠⁠ ⁠Jaimacans demand reparations during royal visit⁠ ⁠Chinese Immigrant Origins of Jamaican Hardo Bread⁠ ⁠A Brief History of Jamaica ⁠ The Uncooked Women podcast is co-hosted by Adaorah Oduah, Olamide Oladoyin and Ore Dosumu.