Biography

I was born to a Nigerian father and an African-American mother. Having spent a large part of my life in both countries, I am well acquainted with multiple cultures. I grew up eating Nigerian food influenced by my mother's American tastes, and those are the foods I want to share with the Bay Area.

When I was young, my father planted 15 acres of pineapples, plantains, bananas, mangos, palm trees, cashews, coconuts, African apples, avocados, and all sorts of citrus fruits on our farm in Nigeria. We also raised pigs, chickens, fish, goats, ducks, and an array of other animals.

Many of my favorite childhood memories revolve around taking advantage of the bounty of the farm and cooking and experimenting with food. As children, my brother, sister and I would save up our lunch monies and any small change from groceries or school books and buy ingredients to cook when my parents were not home. We were not actually authorized to cook at this young age, but it was fun – it was a secret, and it just seemed the right thing to do! Most of our cooking experiments leaned towards the sweet side since we all inherited my mother's love for desserts. When my father discovered our mischievous diversions, he was amazed at our creations (although, of course, slightly angry that we had used the stove without adult supervision). My mother considered all this to be a blessed sign from above and immediately retired herself from the kitchen.

When I was younger, I remember wanting to be many things when I grew up – an engineer, architect, gymnast, acrobat, veterinarian, writer, and so on. I never considered cooking to be a serious career choice because it was always something I did for fun. Now, I cook for a living, and this is why I feel so blessed to bring you Chiefo's Kitchen – bringing the joys of my childhood and of West African cuisine straight to you.