Item 13: An African Food Podcast

Dr. Wanida Lewis is the Founder and CEO of Crescendo Foods, Ghana and West Africa’s first shared commercial kitchen co-working hub located in Accra, Ghana. Dr. Lewis has over ten years’ experience leading initiatives and strategic partnerships throughout the African continent. She has a BS in Chemistry from Saint Augustine’s University, an MS in Analytical Chemistry from North Carolina Central University, and a PhD in Food Science from North Carolina State University.

Find Crescendo Foods on Instagram (@crescendo_foods) and online at crescendogh.com

Photo Courtesy of Wanida Lewis

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A Queens, NY native, Nkem Oghedo is the founder of Adá, a community & online destination for global Black food culture. Previously, she worked in management consulting and served as the Chief of Staff of wellness tech startup, Care/of. Her professional mission is to create equitable economies in which Black communities thrive. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Find Adá online: https://www.withada.co/

And on Instagram @adaexperiences

Photo Courtesy of Nkem Oghedo

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Born in Accra, Ghana but raised in the American South, food was always a large part of Selasie's life. For the past 5 years, Chef Selasie has worked at several well-known fine dining restaurants across the San Francisco - Bay area such as Bird Dog, Mourad, SPQR, Avery and Lazy Bear. She currently works as the Chef de Cuisine at Hi Felicia in downtown Oakland, California.

Selasie has also started 2 pop-up dinner series during her time in the Bay. Elade Test Kitchen is a dinner series highlighting modern Ghanaian cuisine. This series focuses on the flavors and food she grew up eating; as well as explore how West African flavors and ingredients influenced the African diaspora. A Hard Pill to Swallow is another dinner series meant to acknowledge, showcase, and support Black folks in the beverage, culinary, restaurant and hospitality industries and services. Both dinner series are a celebration of Black folks, our foodways and our contributions to the food world.

Find Selasie and her work on on Instagram:

• @sdotse89
• @elade_tk
• @a_hard_pill_to_swallow

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After over a decade spent engaged in humanitarian work with the United Nations and years of self-teaching in the culinary arts, Selassie Atadika completed course work at the Culinary Institute of America. Her company Midunu, a nomadic and private dining enterprise in Accra embodies ‘New African Cuisine’. It celebrates culinary heritage where culture, community and cuisine intersect with environment, sustainability and economy by employing local, seasonal, and underutilized ingredients including traditional grains and proteins to deliver Africa’s bounty to the table. Chef Selassie Atadika uses Ghanaian cocoa and chocolate as a base to feature the flavors and essence of Africa. She launched The Midunu Institute which looks to document and preserve the continent’s culinary heritage. She was a finalist in the 2019 Basque Culinary World Prize, within the top 100 in the Best Chef Awards 2020 - 2021 and 2021 recipient of the La Liste New Destination Champion Award for Africa.

Find Midunu Chocolates online and on Instagram.

DISCOUNT CODE for Item 13 listeners for 10% off your order of Midunu Chocolates: ITEM1310

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This week we're re-broadcasting our episode with Mrs. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, co-founder of AACE Foods and an expert on social innovation, African agriculture and nutrition, entrepreneurship, and youth development.

Ndidi has over 25 years of international development experience and is a recognized serial entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and consultant. Through her work in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, she has shaped policy and led the design and execution of high-impact initiatives focused on strategy, organizational design, ecosystem solutions, and growth. Mrs. Nwuneli serves on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), AGRA, Nigerian Breweries Plc. (Heineken), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. India, Fairfax Africa Holdings Canada, Royal DSM Sustainability Board, Netherlands, and the African Philanthropy Forum. She previously served on the Boards of Nestle Nigeria Plc., the World Vegetable Center and Cornerstone Insurance Plc.

As the co-founder of AACE Foods, which produces a range of packaged spices, seasonings, and cereals for local and international markets, Mrs. Nwuneli has propelled the growth of a catalytic business. As the founder of Nourishing Africa, a digital home for food and agriculture entrepreneurs operating on the African Continent, she is accelerating the growth of the ecosystem and supporting entrepreneurs in 35 African countries. Her latest start-up is Changing Narratives Africa committed to changing global mindsets about Africa by showcasing the Continent’s contributions to the world through the pioneering work of her dynamic people, their innovations, and products.

Ndidi’s book, “Food Entrepreneurs in Africa: Scaling Resilient Agriculture Businesses” is available on www.sahelconsult.com/feia on Amazon, and the Routledge website.

Find Ndidi’s work online: 
Changing Narratives Africa
AACE Foods
Sahel Consulting

Photo credit to Ndidi Nwuneli.

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This week's guest is Edwina Morgan of Waakye Leaf.

The idea for Waakye Leaf was born out of a genuine love for building cultural bridges by sharing traditional African culinary knowledge with the world in the most creative and innovative ways in order to provoke, delight and rouse interest.

Established in 2008 by Edwina Morgan, Waakye Leaf is now considered one of London’s leading boutique afro-fusion caterers. They are passionate about creating enjoyable and memorable experiences through food, while setting new standards for quality and excellence. From mouth-watering canapés, delicious bowl food, themed supper clubs to luxury banquets, they offer a truly bespoke service and take pride in working with each of their clients to realize the client's vision.

Find Waakye Leaf online: https://www.waakyeleaf.co.uk/ and on Instagram @waakyeleaf

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This week's guest is US-based African chef, cookbook author and activist Pierre Thiam.

Pierre (who was born and raised in Senegal and now lives in the Bay Area) has dedicated his career to making West African cuisine and ingredients accessible to new audiences in the US and beyond. He’s the executive chef and co-founder of Teranga, his acclaimed fast-casual group of restaurants in New York City, where he sources food directly from African farmers, and is the co-founder of Yolélé, a purpose-driven food business that makes African ingredients available to US home cooks and restaurants, while connecting smallholder farms in West Africa with the global food economy.

Pierre is also the author of three cookbooks, including his most recent, The Fonio Cookbook: An Ancient Grain Rediscovered, which highlights simple African-inspired recipes for the home cook such as Fonio Fritters with Sweet Potato, Tamarind Roasted Chicken with Fonio and Fonio Chocolate Cake with Raspberry (among others!).

Learn more about Chef Pierre online at https://www.pierrethiam.com/ 

Purchase his cookbooks and fonio products at  https://www.pierrethiam.com/products

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Inspired by her daughters, Afua Ayisi started a bottled beverage business featuring herbal teas across the continent. Starting with the roselle hibiscus tea, popularly known in Francophone West Africa as Bissau, the idea is to craft and produce delicious and low caloric ready to drink teas void of artificial preservatives and ingredients.

Find Bosuo Foods on Instagram (@bosuofoods) and online at https://www.bosuofoods.com/
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Photo Courtesy of Afua Ayisi

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HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

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Samantha Kotey is a corporate attorney, food enthusiast, and cook born and raised in Houston, TX to Ghanaian immigrants. Growing up with a Ghanaian mother who proudly subscribed to traditional West African social norms meant that food was at the forefront of her life from a very young age. Early on, she recognized the insidious pattern of marginalizing Africa, which naturally bled into the realm of food and has resulted in a negative perception of African cuisine.

Through her business, Auntie’s Ice Cream, she strives to shift this paradigm and continue to etch the identity of African food in our global food culture. Auntie’s is a vessel through which she can share ingredients, methods, and flavors indigenous to Africa through a universal comfort food.

Find Auntie’s on Instagram (@auntieicecream) and online at www.auntiesafricanicecream.com

Photo Courtesy of Samantha Kotey

Follow Item 13 on social media: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @item13podcast

Don’t forget to subscribe & leave us a review!

HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

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