Ozoz Sokoh

Last updated
Ozoz Sokoh
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Warri, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Education University of Liverpool
OccupationNigerian food writer
Years active2007 - present
Website www.kitchenbutterfly.com

Ozoz Sokoh (born 1976) is a Nigerian culinary writer, food historian, recipe developer, and culinary anthropologist. [1] [2] [3] She has organized events around Nigerian foodways, including the first World Jollof Day in 2017.

Contents

Early life and education

Sokoh was born in 1976 in Warri, [4] on the southern coast of Nigeria. She attended the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria for 3 years, studying Urban and Regional Planning, [5] and left in 1997. She moved to the United Kingdom where she earned a degree in Geology from the University of Liverpool. [6] During her time in the UK, she began cooking Nigerian food to feel closer to home. [7] According to Sokoh, she created her first recipe in 1998 while living and going to school in the UK. [8]

Career

After graduating from the University of Liverpool, Sokoh worked as a geologist. She began a culinary blog, Kitchen Butterfly, and blogged about Nigerian food while she lived and worked in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2011. [9] [5] [ better source needed ] She developed recipes. [8]

Upon her return to Nigeria in 2011, she began researching familiar Nigerian ingredients and their uses from the perspective of culinary anthropology. [1] [10] [5] She researched and presented a documentary on Agege bread, a staple in Nigeria, for ‘For Africans’. [11]

In 2018 Sokoh created Feast Afrique, an online curated collection of books relating to the culinary history of West Africa and its diaspora. [12] [13] [8] [14] This collection includes a digital library of 240+ West African and diasporic culinary and literary resources. [15] [2] She has researched and written about the connections between the foods of West Africa and the foods of nations that engaged in the slave trade. [16]

She organized the first World Jollof Day in 2017. [17] The festival is held to celebrate Jollof rice, a dish that is ubiquitous in West Africa and the region's best known dish worldwide. [18] She has created ‘Eat The Book’ experiences, celebrating African food from African writing by creating the dishes at literary and arts festivals. [19] [20] She was the co-organiser of Abori Food System Design Summit, which was held at Alliance Française, Lagos in 2019 and featured food exhibitions, discussions and a farmer's market. [21]

In 2020, while a Forecast mentee, Sokoh produced Coast to Coast, a documentary about the spread of West African food through the diaspora. [2] [8]

Personal life

As of 2021 Sokoh lived in Ontario, Canada. [6] [8] She has children. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Lagos blogger delivering delicious dishes". CNN African Voices. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Patterson, J.R. (2021-08-24). "These Chefs Are on a Mission to Decolonize West African Food". Condé Nast Traveler . Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  3. ↑ "How Food Connects Us To Our Origin". Channels Television . Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  4. ↑ "Ozoz Sokoh". SMO Contemporary Art.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Alumona, Kingsley (23 February 2019). "I Spend My Days Exploring Many Dimensions Of Food —Ozoz Sokoh". Tribune Nigeria. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Ozoz Sokoh". The Spruce Eats . Dot Dash. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "INDLU with KitchenButterfly". Nubia Africa . Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Adeniji, Adedoyin (25 July 2021). "Meet Ozoz Sokoh, the Culinary Historian Creating a Digital Archive of West African Food". The Kitchn .
  9. ↑ "West International Full Episode #9". YouTube. Holland Expats. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Introducing Feast Afrique, Ozoz Sokoh's Digital Archive of African Culinary Excellence". Brittle Paper . Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  11. ↑ "Where Did Agege Bread Come From?". YouTube. For Africans. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "Decolonising culinary legacy of West African food, one recipe at a time". TRT World . Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Debczak, Michele. "Feast Afrique, A Digital Archive Dedicated to West African Cuisine, Is Now Online". Mental Floss . Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "Feast Afrique dives into African culinary delights". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  15. ↑ Madurga, Lucia Diaz. "Feast Afrique: A free online library with the culinary history of West Africa". National Geographic . RBA. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Culture Diaries: Ozoz Sokoh – Program of African Studies". Northwestern University . Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  17. ↑ "Lagos food festival shows off Nigeria's 'Jollof' muscle". Africa News . Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  18. ↑ "The History of Jollof Rice". World Jollof Day. Archived from the original on 22 February 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  19. ↑ "Africa: Ake Festival - Africa's Leading International Book Festival". Ake Festival . Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  20. ↑ "Eat The Book". Ake Festival . Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  21. ↑ "Abori Summit". Abori Summit . Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
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