Item 13: An African Food Podcast

Back with a new season and can’t wait for you to hear! This week, I’m trying out a new segment/episode format: I3 Items on Item 13 featuring thirteen food-related things I’m eating, reading, watching, participating in, etc. Items featured in this week’s episode: A Mom Potluck Poks Spices TJ’s Sparkling Watermelon Spice by Miss Cookie Dounou Cuisine Food Truck A Trip to Ghana Ghana Food Movement Food Ambassador Opportunity Top Chef Houston Iron Chef on Netflix Koto LLC Peppers The...

I wanted to tell you about an upcoming event — I’ll be moderating a live stream on Kittch, a new social live streaming community for food lovers. On April 21st, at 2pm ET, join me and Chef Ali Rosen for a recipe demo of Portobellos with Goat Cheese and a conversation about mushrooms in celebration of Earth Month. You can find this event, HRN’s creator channel, and other upcoming streams at kittch.com.

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. Aderoju Odunsi is an agribusiness specialist and has been an entrepreneur, trainer and Business Development Service provider for over 30 years. She has a particular interest in helping people, especially women to transform ideas into solid businesses. Aderoju is the...

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is Temi Jebutu, a Nigerian Agribusiness professional with over 17 years of experience in Operations Management working with multinational and international organizations. He is currently the Managing Director of AACE Food Processing and Distribution Limited...

We've been nominated for The Taste Awards! Listen for details in the show and vote today! Voting closes on March 11, 2022. Vote for Viewer's Choice Awards here. See other Heritage Radio Network Shows Nominated here. Photo Courtesy of Yorm Ackuaku. Follow Item 13 on social media: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @item13podcast Don’t forget to subscribe & leave us a review! Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Item 13 by becoming a...

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is Ebun Feludu. She runs JAM The Coconut Food Company- a family legacy business that produces premium food and beauty solutions from the world's most famous super food- The Coconut. "We are committed to building the biggest coconut brand in Africa for...

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is William Omamo, a Kenyan national and trained hospitality professional with over 20 years of industry experience. He is a graduate of Les Roches Global Education Switzerland. William's career has seen him work with world-class organizations leaving a...

This season, we’re showcasing stories from the inaugural class of Changing Narratives Africa Fellowship, a highly selective program for African food entrepreneurs who are ready to scale their brands into global markets. This week’s guest is Chichi Eriobu, the Founder and CEO of Phronesis Foods Nigeria Limited, a globally-growing food Processing, packaging & export company, creating new food product lines from existing raw materials. A Christian, and multiple award-winning entrepreneur,...

This week we're re-broadcasting in celebration of the Ginjan Brothers' recent feature in Humans of New York. And big news: we're launching a new season of Item 13 starting on February 1st! In the meantime, here's the story of Mohammed and Ibrahima from episodes 46 and 47. Ginjan Brothers was founded by Mohammed Diallo & Ibrahima Diallo. The brothers immigrated to the States in their early teens, 13 & 14, respectively. Mohammed has a formal training in business management and spent the bulk...

Whitney Osei-Akintaju was born in Kibi, Ghana, and migrated to the United States with her father when she was six years old. In her sophomore year of high school, she took a web design and multimedia class which sparked her passion for tech. In 2011, she began competing in pageants and was named Miss West Africa USA First Runner-Up. She was also Miss Ghana Tourism USA 2015. Her corporate career began in banking and finance working for companies like Bank of America. From there she moved into...

Mrs. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli is an expert on social innovation, African agriculture and nutrition, entrepreneurship, and youth development. She 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...

Award winning International Wine Educator Tuanni Price is on a mission to make the complicated world of wine simple. In fact, that is the motto of her wine lifestyle business, Zuri Wine Tasting. The self-proclaimed wine enthusiast curates’ wine-filled lifestyles from Southern California to the Southern-most part of the globe in Cape Town, South Africa. Tuanni uses her brand, Zuri Wine Tasting, to host private tastings, teach wine tasting classes and host wine tours. In addition, she produces...

Zinyusile Khumbula (Zi) was born in Zimbabwe and spent some of his childhood in South Africa. He moved to the United States in September 2009 and been a resident of Harlem since 2014 where he has launched New York’s First Pop Up African Taqueria, Taco Africana. Zi’s daily inspiration is the mission of sharing Ubuntu (humanity to others) through food and fellowship. With his Tacos, Zi aims to create unique dining experiences that become a comfortable space, allowing people from all walks of...

Margaret is the founder of Kahawa 1893 Coffee. She is a third generation coffee farmer from Kenya and grew up on a coffee farm immigrating to the USA. After earning her MBA from Harvard, she went on to work on Wall Street, where she rediscovered her passion for coffee. She founded Kahawa 1893 with a mission to close the gender gap in coffee. In Kenya, over 90% of labor in coffee comes from women. However, they aren't fairly compensated because they don't own the land. Margaret's coffee is...

Abena Offeh-Gyimah is a writer, a researcher, a business owner, and an advocate for an indigenous food sovereignty system. She's worked at Black Creek Community Farm as a coordinator for the youth farming program, with Building Roots as an urban gardener coordinator, with North York Community House as a Strong Neighborhood Coordinator, and currently project co-lead with the Jane Finch Community Research Partnership. Her food business, Adda Blooms, seeks to work with small scale farmers to...

This week’s guest is Malicka Anjorin, a Digital Forensic consultant by profession and a content creator by passion. Malicka inspires home cooks to explore West African dishes and learn more about our culture through food through her platform, The Black Gourmet. Find Malicka Anjorin on instagram: @theblvckgourmet and online: www.theblvckgourmet.com Photo courtesy of Malicka Anjorin. Follow Item 13 on social media: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @item13podcast Don’t forget to subscribe &...

This week’s guest is Afia Amoako , a PhD student who loves talking about veganism as it relates to my culture. On her platforms, she shares easy vegan recipes that highlight Ghanaian and West African food culture, ingredients and cooking methods. She challenges her audience to think outside the box when it comes to living a vegan lifestyle as it pertains to culture, food and history. Find Afia on Instagram: @thecanadianafrican and online at thecanadianafrican.com Photo courtesy of Afia...

This week’s guest is Adégnimika (Adé) Carrena, owner of Dounou Cuisine. Born in Porto-Novo, Benin, Adé started her culinary journey here in the United States when she was adopted at the age of 10. Though then she cooked just with her family. She says her passion did not grow until a few years ago when her perception of food changed. “I saw that food is more than an edible but is instead a shared emotion and an ever evolving yet traditional canvas for our history as beings.” Adé’s objective...

Abena Foli was born and raised in Ghana until 2006, when she immigrated to the US. Her passion for food comes from her farmer-father who taught her how to blend spices, and how to cook. Since high school, Abena has been passionate about combining her love for food, with her love for the sciences. This led her to pursue her Master’s degree in Food Science specializing in Food Safety Microbiology, after her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. She has over 8 years practical food industry...

Take Two is our new mini-series, catching up with guests from previous seasons on what they’ve been up to since they were last on the show. This week, I chat with Carol Mathias O’chez, a psychologist passionate about helping people thrive in all areas of their life. We discuss the mental toll of the last year and how food entrepreneurs can thrive in uncertain times. For full details on her background and work tune in to Episode 22: Mental Health & Wellness with Dr. Carol...