Cooking Up Consciousness Podcast

Zoe speaks with New York Times bestselling cookbook author Julia Turshen about her childhood, the impact of diet culture and media culture growing up, her lifelong work in food, her latest cookbook, her current farm job, her work with Equity At The Table (EATT) and God's Love we Deliver KEY TAKEAWAYS Food is the pathway into the heritage of other cultures. By experiencing new taste sensations, we develop the desire to learn more about where they came from. In the media, and especially the magazine industry, there is a tendency to promote the idea that thin is beautiful - but healthy is even more beautiful. We reduce anxiety and doubt about sexuality when we bring our children up with acceptance. Julia's own upbringing was one of diversity and inclusivity, which made the process of coming out so much more easy. Cooking provides us with a sense of agency, and allows us to be in complete control of a part of our lives, which is rare in this world. BEST MOMENTS 'I grew up in a place where there was a lot of diversity. So I grew up eating a big range of things' 'I think it's incredibly common that a lot of us come from a history of disordered eating or eating disorders because there is an obsessiveness with food' 'Reading can be fun! Reading doesn't always have to be serious' 'When we cook, we have control over what we're doing, which is a nice feeling in a world where we actually have no control over anything' VALUABLE RESOURCES Julia Turshen Twitter - https://twitter.com/turshen Julia Turshen Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/turshen/ Julia Turshen - https://www.juliaturshen.com ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Samah Dada, cookbook author and founder of her blog DADAEATS, about her childhood love of dolphins, the power of representation in food and beverage media, her current love of Harry Styles and Justin Bieber, and the many food experiences that have shaped who she is. KEY TAKEAWAYS Sometimes we need to look outside of our own world in order to recognise that people like ourselves exist, and that they thrive. The world is bigger than we sometimes believe it to be. There's nothing glamorous about working every hour of the day, although there seems to be this perception in the media, and through influencers. Life is about caring for yourself. When you find the thing you love to do in life, it's never a job. It becomes a passion – a force that drives us, and money becomes less important than this drive. When we take our place in front of the world, we are empowering those like us – we are reassuring them that they too can find their own place. BEST MOMENTS ‘It transcends more than what you're putting on the table. It's the intention behind it' ‘It showed me that the word's a bit bigger' ‘When you're being present – doing something because you love it – it stops being work' ‘I love that you're bringing your culture back, and using your platform to be a guiding light – to be a representative for other young women who look like you' VALUABLE RESOURCES Samah Dada Twitter - https://twitter.com/dadaeats Samah Dada Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dadaeats Dada Eats - https://dadaeats.com ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Amber Crowder, a returning citizen who wishes to destigmatize and humanize what it means to be formerly incarcerated. They speak about Amber's incarceration experience, her work through The Been Down Project, her entrepreneurship, and prison food. KEY TAKEAWAYS Motivations come in all shapes and sizes. For many parents, the yearning to make each day as special as possible for our children is what drives us to do better. The legal system needs to find alternatives to incarceration, especially when it comes to parents leaving behind children. Sentencing a parent is the same as sentencing the child. A prison sentence doesn't end with being released from incarceration. The stigma that hangs over a person upon release is a life sentence in itself. Surviving incarceration can lead to lifelong trauma, but we must endeavour to remember that it was an experienced that we survived, and that we must keep going. BEST MOMENTS ‘I am always obsessively looking for truth' ‘I have to get up and do what I need to do' ‘Prison is trauma, and it's an act of trauma you're re-living every day' ‘There's no chance for redemption when that label is put upon you' VALUABLE RESOURCES Amber Crowder Twitter - https://twitter.com/beendownproject Been Down Project - https://www.thebeendownproject.com/about ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with culinary historian, food writer, and Griot Michael W. Twitty (@thecookinggene) about third person interpretation, African American culinary history in the Old South, genealogy and food heritage, and storytelling through foodways. KEY TAKEAWAYS When it comes to the issue of self-dislike and self-hatred and its effects, we must be as honest and as open as possible. We have to remove it at the root, and we cannot do this unless we know where to dig. Cooking is a political act. Cooking is a revolutionary act, but we must want it to be. We have to find the will and the meaning. The ability to suspend one's belief plays a vital part in our personal learning process. Stimulating the imagination is a foundational building block of self-development. A recipe is a story that is passed down through the generations, changing incrementally as new generations add their own tales to the cooking pot. It represents the heritage and voyage of those who came before. BEST MOMENTS 'One of the key ingredients is resistance, acknowledgement, honorance and respect' 'Food tells stories. Food keeps people's memories alive' 'It's mental health. It's digging into the root - uprooting all that stuff' 'I want Black people to understand in particular, the reason why I do what I do is not to revisit the trauma. it's to celebrate our joyous past and present' VALUABLE RESOURCES Michael W Twitty Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thecookinggene/?hl=en The Cooking Gene - https://thecookinggene.com Michael W Twitty Twitter - https://twitter.com/KosherSoul ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with writer Alicia Kennedy about finding community and connection growing up, new food writing, ethical eating under capitalism, and her forthcoming book from Beacon Press. KEY TAKEAWAYS Books and stories allow us to find a creative way to escape when the world around us seems intent on making us conform. The reason we identify with certain themes or characters is because they reflect the ideal that we long to pursue. Finding our voice is a long process, and can be made easier by surrounding ourselves with those who hold similar values and ideals. By creating this community of like-minded souls, we ground ourselves and build confidence. We must seek to move towards more conscious capitalism, working for better labor rights, and more equality in the food chain. People must become more aware about the better choices that can be made. We often feel empowered to make consumer choices versus taking political action. BEST MOMENTS ‘I always had this sense of sense of being out of time with my own people' ‘I've always found my people and my inspiration and my will to go on, from those who are close to me' ‘When I started to write about food, I just had my whole world open up. Like I wasn't struggling anymore to say what I wanted to say' ‘Crisis affects the ways in which people eat' VALUABLE RESOURCES Alicia Kennedy - https://alicia-kennedy.com Alicia Kennedy Twitter - https://twitter.com/aliciakennedy ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Palestinian-Syrian chef Reem Assil, owner of Reem's California based in Oakland, about her years as a labor organizer, discovering her deeply personal connection to food and her ancestry, and her team's transition to a worker-owned cooperative model for her restaurant and bakery. KEY TAKEAWAYS We can instil a love for responsibility by showing people that they are trusted with a task. By giving them a sense of ownership, and allowing them to find their own approach, responsibility takes on a new maturity. Great writers, great thinkers, great creators, can help us to articulate the feelings, ideas and emotions that we have inside. Verbalising these things all helps to describe the human condition. When dealing with social issues and challenges, it is never enough to simply fix the symptoms. We must look to the root causes and solve at the foundational level, no matter how painful it may be. No one is immune to the hardships of life. Even leaders find some days tougher than others. Never be afraid to show that you're human. There is an innate strength in vulnerability. BEST MOMENTS 'I love to make people laugh and be happy. I was an entertainer from a very young age' 'It's all about decolonizing your mind' 'This organization really helped us to empower communities of color to really change the conditions in their lives' 'Vulnerability is the start of everything' VALUABLE RESOURCES Reems California - https://linktr.ee/reemscalifornia Reems California Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reemscalifornia/?hl=en Reem Assil Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reem.assil/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks to Charles Chen (@charleschentv), a co-creator of the universe and an entrepreneur democratizing wellness through his monthly subscription boxes, Masterclasses, and digital content, about loving yourself and creating space for others to do the same. KEY TAKEAWAYS Food can be there for us when the whole world isn't. It acts as comfort and friend in our darkest moments, but we must be careful not to let it overtake us completely. We all have books that mean the most to us at certain points in life, depending on where we are in our own journey. They almost act as forks in the road and can help us to make the important decisions. We can become far too distracted by the brand we are trying to create, when really we should focus upon the intention behind the messages we are trying to transmit. Self-care is the root of true happiness. We cannot hope to truly love others if we do not love ourselves. We must take time out to nurture and rejuvenate. BEST MOMENTS 'Cooking up consciousness is alchemy, and it's beautiful!' 'True authentic power comes in recognising that this vehicle, this body, can be discarded' 'It's important to stay rooted and grounded and remember what the fuck your intention is' 'My mantra every morning is literally thank you for the pain, for the blessings, for the abundance, for the relationship' VALUABLE RESOURCES Charles Chen - http://www.charleschen.tv Charles Chen Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/charleschentv/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Ashtin Berry (@TheCollectress), a respected activist and educator on the frontlines of hospitality and humanity, creating safer, more inclusive spaces to have real, intersectional conversations. They talk about books and libraries, the importance of learning history, community practices and harm reduction, intersectionality, active listening, and a lifelong curiosity. KEY TAKEAWAYS The relationship we have with food begins at an early age. We all have memories of the foods we loved as children, and this informs our tastes and food ambitions as we grow. Imagination is one of the most powerful tools we can cultivate in life. By doing so, we remain perpetually curious, and open to new experiences. Routines can help us to find the order in a day, but they must never be solely about work. We need to make sure we take time out each day in order to nourish our bodies, minds and souls. Data is always at the mercy of whoever is analysing it. This is problematic as most people publishing studies or research tend to be from the same white/male background, which can impact the way studies are used. BEST MOMENTS 'Everybody's food looks different. Just because it doesn't look like something you know doesn't mean that it's not good or tasty' 'Imagination is something that's really undervalued' 'Make sure you make time for yourself' 'My brain naturally works at intersections' VALUABLE RESOURCES Radical XChange - https://www.radxc.com/about The Collectress Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thecollectress/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Tunde Wey, an artist, cook and writer living between Lagos and New Orleans, about pre-chewed food, the trendiness of food justice, the title “activist,” working at Wendy's, conversations on race, and the abundance that comes out of continued learning. The sounds and vibrancy of lagos pepper this recording as the background - please patiently stay for what is an illuminating conversation with the gifted artist, poet and cook KEY TAKEAWAYS Even from the roughest of beginnings, great stories can emerge. Tunde is an example of a man who was able to see the light and beauty, even in the darkest moments of his childhood. We grow by opening our minds to new experiences. We take these experiences, and by applying focus, can develop and blossom. We cannot hope to control every failure. Some are insurmountable and leave scars, but no one is without imperfections. Sometimes these imperfections make us stronger. Systems become redundant once we realise that they are not made up of rich and poor, but people, and the common thread the link us - joy, love, heartache, pain and enlightenment - are universal across any class system we may recognise. BEST MOMENTS 'I was the kid who would correct adults if they spoke improperly or incorrectly' 'I love it when a story starts with failure' 'I do not want to turn experiences into consumable moments or products' 'I think the word "activism" relegates the truth to the fringe' VALUABLE RESOURCES From Lagos - http://www.fromlagos.com Tunde Wey Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/from_lagos/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with Kimberly Renee (@itskimberlyrenee), a self-taught private chef and the founder of Might Be Vegan and the award-winning national COVID-19 hunger relief program Food Love. They dive into Kimberly's childhood activism, food relief work, calling out big brands, and access. KEY TAKEAWAYS True happiness comes from helping others, ensuring that they are taken care of, making sure their voices are heard and their needs are met. Entrepreneurs are those who wish to take the power back in their days. They wish to wake up and be in control of their own destinies. Each day is a path they travel on their own terms. Cancelling a brand or company never helps us to solve a problem. It only creates bitterness. It is far better to point out when people do things wrong, so that lessons can be learned and progress can be made. We must seek to highlight people who are doing meaningful things in the food space. We need to inspire others to be able to do the same. BEST MOMENTS 'I need creativity to be happy' 'I don't want anybody else to tell me "No, you can't do that". Just being in control of your destiny in your own time' 'Don't be scared to be better' 'I've lived the experience of knowing what a lack of access look like' VALUABLE RESOURCES Might Be Vegan - https://www.mightbevegan.co Kimberley Renee Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/itskimberlyrenee/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with scholar-activist, public speaker, and cultural consultant Dr. Yaba Blay (@yabablay) on Black racial identity, colorism and beauty politics, naming white supremacy, and the experiences that shaped who she is. KEY TAKEAWAYS Parenting is not something for which we receive a book of instructions. It's difficult to carve your way in the world, but especially so when you're also guiding a child. The world we create for ourselves isn't always visible during the creation process. Sometimes it takes a step back, a new perspective, to see the things we make for ourselves, and the identities we adopt. Colorism has often been cast as a somehow internal struggle to the black community. Some feel the need to keep it this way so as not to show white people that they have any issues separate from them. If we are not trying to change institutions or ideologies, then we are only really changing behaviours, which is impermanent. BEST MOMENTS 'The word that comes to mind is free. I've always been a free spirit' 'I chose to go to Temple, not only because I got a full fellowship, but because it's the home of Afrocentricity' 'It's a blessing that my life unfolds in the way it does' 'Until we sit in that history, we cannot move forward' VALUABLE RESOURCES Dr Yaba Blay - https://www.yabablay.com Dr Yaba Blay Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/yabablay/?hl=en ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoe speaks with acclaimed chef, author, speaker, and friend Preeti Mistry about their journey to who they are now, from their early roots in activism to starring in the hit TV show 'Waffles and Mochi' alongside Michelle Obama, the power of your voice upon the world in general, and how food can bring people together. KEY TAKEAWAYS When we are given the privilege of holding a platform - a voice - that can reach the ears of the world, it is incumbent upon us to use that voice to make the world a better place. Food has the power to unite. It is a common denominator that allows people from all walks of life to come together, usually across a table, and break bread. Sometimes, when we suffer failure, it is not the result of our own actions, but the toxic atmosphere created by others. We only learn this through perspective, but once recognised, we can forgive ourselves and move on from these parts of our lives. Many try to make the world believe that they're on the side of what's right, but only some have the morals to prove it. We need to always look for the people doing good work for the right reasons. BEST MOMENTS 'Both of us feel like total unicorns!' 'When there is power in your platform, you have to try to use that for good' 'People really like the things I cook and I love the way it brings people together' 'I always excelled tremendously in any environment where I was fully supported as myself' VALUABLE RESOURCES Preeti Mistry Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chefpmistry/?hl=en Loading Dock Talks - https://loading-dock-talks.simplecast.com Preeti Mistry Twitter - https://twitter.com/chefpmistry Preeti Mistry - https://www.preetimistry.com ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. NOTES Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cooking Up Consciousness is a podcast about more than food & drink — but definitely some of that, too. Hosted by chef, activist, writer, and entrepreneur Zoe Adjonyoh, Cooking Up Consciousness explores food, wellness, identity, and the not-so-secret ingredients to an expanded consciousness. Through conversations with your favorite chefs, artists, writers, and creatives, Zoe and her guests discuss how they live, work, and create in pursuit of higher vibrations — whatever that means for them. ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Adjonyoh is a writer, chef, and food justice activist from South-East London on a mission to bring African food to the masses. As a mixed-race, Black queer woman born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother from a working-class background who works at the intersections of food, culture, identity, and politics, Zoe Adjonyoh is driven to create change in the food landscape. Zoe has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghananian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York and become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Through her supper clubs, kitchen residencies, mobile catering, a former restaurant space in Brixton, her highly successful cookbook, Zoe's Ghana Kitchen: An Introduction to New African Cuisine - from Ghana With Love, and a thriving e-commerce spice business, Zoe has sought to inspire African food entrepreneurs, cooks, and chefs from the continent and the diaspora across the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoe has held events, demonstrations, and talks in addition to launching a crowdfunding campaign to support some of the most vulnerable in her community. In 2020, Zoe founded the thought leadership platform Black Book for Black and non-white people working within hospitality and food media. Join Zoe as she dismantles, disrupts, and decolonises the food industry while supporting marginalised communities and building a more equitable food system. Thank you for cooking up consciousness with me! Love & light- Zoe Adjonyoh Follow Cooking Up Consciousness on Clubhouse for conversations and community and visit www.zoeadjonyoh.com to subscribe to all of Zoe's consciousness-raising projects including Black Book and Ghana Kitchen. For more about Zoe and her work, follow @zoeadjonyoh on IG and on Clubhouse. Please visit Patreon to support this self-funded podcast from as little as $4 per month. CREDITS Executive Producer, Creator, and Host- Zoe Adjonyoh Producer- Dani Dillon of Lunch Group Graphic & Website Design- Sara HeldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeadjonyoh/?hl=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.