About
Ozoz Sokoh
Ozoz Sokoh is a food explorer, educator, budding curator, and Traveler By Plate, for whom "Food Is More Than Eating". In 2009, she began journaling about food on her blog, Kitchen Butterfly. In 2013, she created the #NewNigerianKitchen, developing her philosophy and practice with Nigerian food. Also central to her work is connectedness through food, from food sovereignty, cultural identity, reclamation of the food system and importantly, the joy of eating.
Her research and documentation explore the roots of Nigerian and West African cuisine, the impact of West African intellectual contributions to global development from the American South, through the Caribbean to Europe and Latin America, and the connection to the Afro-diaspora.
Current
Explorations
Her ongoing exploration, "Coast to Coast: From West Africa to the World" traces the histories and edible trails of West Africa and its diaspora through ingredients and "commodities" and is documented on Feast Afrique . It includes an open-access digital library of 250+ cuisine and cookbooks from the 1800s to date, a hall of fame, data-driven work on the role of food media in marginalizing West African voices, and a series of short films available for screening.
Ozoz has spoken at TEDx and at conferences hosted by the Culinary Institute of America . Her work has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine , Gastro Obscura , CNN African Voices, Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown , and more.
She is a professor of Food and Tourism studies at Centennial College. She makes her home with her three teenage children in Mississauga, Ontario-Canada, on Land of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
My Journey
Ozoz was born in Warri, on the southern coast of Nigeria
She didn’t enjoy food until 1985, when she was nine years old. She fell in love with a hamburger and Mirinda at Wimpy’s on Princes Street in Edinburgh
Ozoz did not like Chemistry so opted out of Quantity Surveying, studying Urban & Regional Planning instead at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife until 1997. She loved cooking for her friends.
In 1997, she moved to the UK to study Geology, and fell in love with Chemistry.
During her time in the UK, she discovered food as comfort, and began cooking Nigerian dishes to fight homesickness. In 1998, she created her first recipe, tomato salsa , which she still makes today.
Ozoz worked as a geologist in Nigeria, then moved abroad. In 2009, she began writing Kitchen Butterfly, her food blog while living and working in The Netherlands.
Her interest in travel, recipe research and development deepened with writing.
Her love for food history and its importance as cultural identity began in 2009, 2010 when she discovered Brazilian Acarajé, and its origins in Nigerian Àkàrà . This was a turning point in her food journey.
Upon her return to Nigeria in 2011, she deepened her food research on Nigerian ingredients, techniques, practices and more, in an attempt to document and codify the cuisine, including building Nigeria’s first seasonal produce calendar .
In 2014, she presented her work Journey by Plate at TEDx Port Harcourt. In it, she documents the origins, philosophy and practice of her ongoing #NewNigerianKitchen project.
In the intervening years, Sokoh has created experiences including #EattheBooks , celebrating literary and visual works and translating them to tastes in food and drink, at events and festivals across the world.
Her interest in curatorial work has led to the development of exhibitions including the 2019 Food is More Than Eating Exhibition held as part of the Abori Food System Design Summit.
Sokoh launched Feast Afrique in 2020, an online platform dedicated to the documentation and celebration of West African Food and Drink. A digital library of 250+ West African and diasporic culinary and literary resources are a key part of this work.
In 2021, Ozoz graduated with Honors from the Museum and Cultural Management Program at Centennial College, Canada.
She is a professor of Food and Tourism Studies at Centennial College.
Other Work
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