Diaspora Food Stories Recording - Rachel Adjei

Rachel, a Ghanaian chef from Toronto, shares her food story and the inspiration behind her Babymon project. She grew up in a diverse community and developed a love for cooking at a young age. Her mom's Italian background influenced their meals, along with Ghanaian and Western foods. Rachel pursued culinary school, specializing in pastry due to her sweet tooth. She faced a lack of representation and Eurocentric focus in culinary school, leading her to explore different cultural cuisines. She now incorporates her own cultural dishes into her cooking and aims to promote diversity in the culinary world. Rachel, welcome to Dias for Food Stories. How are you? I am doing very well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Joining us from Toronto, one of my favorite cities. I truly do love Toronto. I just love how vibrant it is. I love the diverse cultures. It's just really, just truly a great city. I agree. I'm very grateful to live in Toronto and have grown up around so much diversity. So thank you for complimenting my beautiful city. Anytime, anytime. So definitely, like I said, I want to tell your story. And then we're going to get into a Babymon project that you founded in November of 2020, after all of what was going on in the world, especially after the murder of George Floyd. And so let's just start by sharing a little bit about you because you are Ghanaian descent, proud Ghanaian descent, born or raised, I was noting, in Rexville, the community of Rexville. So tell us a little bit about who Rachel is. So that's like a preloaded question. I don't love talking about myself. I mostly tell people, like, just look at the food. But it is important to tell my story. So both my parents are from Ghana. So I was born and raised in Rexville, which is like the northwest part of Toronto. So a very diverse community. I always tell people I grew up around a lot of different people from different backgrounds. And so now when I go back and teach at schools and I see that mosaic that I was familiar with, it really warms my heart to see that diversity is really blossoming. But I often was mistaken as Jamaican, because there are a lot of Jamaican people around me growing up. But we are all connected. So right. Absolutely. And but yeah, I grew up in like, raised by a single mom. I'm the youngest of three siblings. And as a kid, I was a really picky eater. Oh, which is weird. Usually the chef loved all the food. And so life, though, I know people are like, you're a chef, you should eat anything, you know, all of those cows guts. And I was like, you know what, that does not mean what? I might know how to cook it, but I don't want to eat it. So yeah, I felt bad for my mom at a certain point. So I started learning how to cook certain things. So I could, you know, 10 year old me was like, I'm gonna make my lunch every day. And I was very particular about him. Like, I'm not eating a sandwich, I'm bringing a nice service of good food. And I think that's kind of where my love for food really started. And then it just grew from there. And here I am now. Now with the diversity that was there in the home, was it traditional Ghanaian food? Or did your mom mix it up? Because again, you're surrounded by all this diversity. So my mom actually lived in Italy before moving to Canada. So we ate a lot of Italian food growing up along with the food from, you know, our country and her childhood memories and such. And then as well, like some Western foods, too. So we had like quite the mix of things. So I was really grateful to have that diversity. But I will say, there was a time when I thought I was going to specialize in Italian food because of the food I grew up eating. Because for some reason, my cultural food didn't seem as viable as a career. But that's something I can elaborate on more down the line. Absolutely, you know, and that's very important. So, you know, as you're going through and food is becoming a little bit more prominent in your life, you chose to pursue it as a career going to culinary school. Now, by, I don't know, you know, you can do whatever you want to do when you go to culinary school. But you sort of specialize more on the pastry side, the sweet side versus the savory, although you do both. Yes. But the, what was that sweet tooth come from? Oh, I always have a sweet tooth. If you ask any of my childhood friends or my siblings, like I lived off of candy in a way that should not have been possible. I am not sure how I am not diabetic to this day. From 8am, I would go to the convenience store before I'd go to school. And I'd be snacking on my candy all day. When I started in the industry as a like working in restaurants, too. Sometimes you're working super long days, you don't really have time to eat. People would know to come to me because I always had candy in my pocket. Wow. It's almost like the woman with the candy in church, right? I was always ready to go. I'm like, what you want? I got sour candy. I was always ready. I'm a little better now. A little bit. But yeah, I always loved like the piece of baking. But I thought that I knew that when you go to culinary school, you have to learn baking and savoury, too. So I was like, I'll go to culinary school. I'll have that experience work specifically in that field. And I did that for three years, and then went back for pastry school. And even when I was in settings working more on that more as a cook, if there was an opportunity to put a dessert on the menu or bake bread or anything like that, like it always fell on me because I feel like I just had that natural inclination to do that. And so going through pastry school, for me, it was a breeze because I was like, oh, I already know how to do all of this. And so it was very validating being like, OK, this is a good choice. And I also had some health challenges that I thought that maybe being in pastry would be a little bit more manageable versus the intensity of working as a chef, just because there's a little bit of a slowdown, you know, and the hours are a little bit more respectful. Yeah. And so then I ended up working in a pastry shop. I worked as a pastry chef in a restaurant as well. And then the pandemic came and things took a twist. And here I am now. Nice. So let's start to go into what you were sort of alluding to earlier. So when you're in school, we know hopefully school culinary schools have gotten a little better now in terms of being respectful to other cultures that have contributed to world cuisines, world techniques, etc. Right. So as you're going through school and you're seeing yourself as an African woman, black woman, did you see yourself in these courses, you know, of who you are, identifying who you are as a black woman or was it really just Eurocentric? And then you later on sort of had that, you know what, I'm going to start to, you know, there's something missing here. There's representation missing here. So when I was in culinary school, like I would say, at least for my first year, I was very naive and just going in with an open mind of being like, I'm learning things, so I'm excited. Right. The first year is more basic that you're just learning, you know, simple techniques that are technically transferable to any cuisine. And so even going through my first year, I was still under the impression I was going to specialize in Italian food. And I remember being the only black student in my class, which is still insane to me. And I would say maybe there were like eight black students that I can think of off the top of my head in my starting year. And there was like 20, 20 classes of like 20 students. So that's not a lot of us. And I think maybe like one black professor in the school at the time. And so we did at a certain point, learn about foods of the world is what they called it. But it was a course that was seven weeks. And so you've learned about seven different cuisines. And it was like Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Japanese. I can't remember what the other ones were, but like it was very much not. Oh, one of them was Italian. It was very much scratching the surface of only what is seen as marketable, you know, ethnic cuisines. Correct. And so but even the way that we were doing it, like, because now I know in retrospect, the way that we were making Indian food that was offensive, you know, the way that we were making Japanese food like that, that was not true to the nature of what those foods are. And like, I'd say that looking back, I think I have the humility then, but I truly have the humility now, because in specific like ethnic foods, it takes a lot for people to ever have that confidence to say they're experts. You know, they constantly feel like they're on this journey of learning, where the Eurocentric perspective is, I've had this training, so I know everything. And that's always something that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, because I was always willing to like, ask questions and go past what was on the textbook. Right. And so my journey through culinary school, I did my first year. And then when I thought I was going to go to Italy, that didn't happen. And I ended up in France instead in southern France. And that was one of my first intensive restaurant experiences. And through that experience, I was absolutely miserable. I was in a small town, I was the only black person for miles and miles and miles and miles. And I felt so detached from the food, because I couldn't just get like ingredients that really spoke to me, like, getting chilies was challenging, you know, I have to get my boss to go to the next town over, like, things that I never had to, things that were taken for granted living in a place like Toronto. And so I started like exploring different cultural foods with the ingredients that I could get. So I started making Thai curry bases, and I was making like Moroccan style stews, and really just exploring identity and food together, not my cultural identity, specifically, because I couldn't get my ingredients, but something, you know, and something outside of that Eurocentric lens. And so when I came back, and was, you know, doing classes in school, where we got a little bit more flexibility and creativity, I'm like, I'm gonna make peanut soup as the special. And I'm gonna make contumere, which is like a stew made from, what is the leaf? Coco yam leaves. And, you know, make foo foo. And like all of these things, I want to put my culture forward, especially in a space where culinary school, you are paying to be allowed to mess up. So if me putting out my culture out there is considered as a mess up, whatever, but I'm putting it out there and still having that experience. So I think after like taking a break, working and coming back, I was more open minded to the idea of not staying in this traditional box. Okay. But I think it wasn't until I had time sitting at home in the pandemic out of work for the first time in a long time, that I really thought to myself, I've been exhausting myself, telling these food stories in spaces where there's nobody who looks like me, where there's food that doesn't represent me. And I'm running myself dry for a legacy that is not mine and is not for my community. And so that's kind of when I had that brain switch when I was like, hmm, I think I need to look inward and figure out how I can make a change in the world using my food and my culture. And that's kind of like where the kernels of thought for the Idlibon project began. Wow. And that was in November of 2020 or in the 2020 span, lots going on in the world, lot going on in the world. And so I think everyone was doing a lot of, you know, what can I do more to amplify more voices, amplify our community, show the beauty of it, show the strength of it. And so let's share a little bit more about Idlibon project. Yeah. So it was probably in the span of like, I can remember vividly, actually, it was about July 2020, around my birthday, when I kind of had like, a little, a little breakdown. I was like, the world is an absolute shambles. And, you know, I had the time to like, go to all these protests and really be surrounded by the strength of my community, which is a rare occurrence when I'm usually in the food industry and busy and I don't have time to feel, you know, and so it was really emotional. And I was like, what am I, like, how can I contribute to this? What is my place? And so, you know, I was thinking to myself and kind of just thinking out loud and bouncing ideas with my mom and my sister. And I was saying, like, I just want to do something with food that's really going to impact the community. And that was before I even thought about turning the Idlibon project into a business. At the time, I was just like, I need to do something. I had the time, I have the skill set, what can I do? And so, in that time, I came across African Food Basket. It's funny, because they have been, you know, predominant in the community of, you know, Northwest Toronto, where I grew up, but I just didn't have the connection with them, because fortunately enough, even though, you know, I was raised by a single mother, like, we had food security, to a certain extent that we didn't need to rely on those services, although, like, being taught about urban farming and stuff like that is valid for anybody. But even still, like, that organization is older than me. And so, I found that they were doing culturally appropriate food boxes for the community. And like, that is beautiful, because you are looking at the aspects of dignity associated with needing food. And not only that, you are helping those that are being overlooked, in general, in other settings, and in a community that is predominantly those Black, Caribbean and African descent. And so, I reached out to them, and I was like, hey, I just want to put on some fundraisers and raise you money. I have the time, I have the skill set, I have the platform, I have access to kitchen space, just let me give you money. And so, the first, I was working at a pastry, I say working, I was volunteering my time at a pastry shop for people who I thought were my friends, but that's a chaotic story. That's for another episode, huh? Correct. But that space hosted me for the first few months of running these pop-ups. And so, I was like, okay, all I'm going to do, I'm going to keep it simple. I lied to myself, I never keep anything simple. But I did, like, peanut soup, and omelette, which is like a pounded rice ball. And I did a couple pastries, based on traditional recipes, and just kind of made them look fancy. And then I sold a couple spice blends, put it on Instagram, you know, told people in the community, and we sold it out of the pastry shop, and it was a hit. And it went super well. I did, like, promo the week, the month before, I think, and, like, was giving out little packets of spices so people could, like, smell and kind of get an idea of what the story was I was trying to tell. And that evolved the following month, where we were offering more things. I did a Kenyan-style curry and chapati, and, like, people were coming out of their way. And this is still in the height of, you know, the uncertainty in the world that people were willing to come out and really support. And it was so wonderful to see. And the space that I was in started becoming not conducive for that positivity and strength that I was trying to, you know, spread out into the community. So I, in the dark of the night, grabbed all of my things, brought them home. I'm like, I need to figure out a different way to approach this. And then that's when I leaned to starting an e-commerce site, and started selling, like, chocolate bars online, and doing my spice blends, and kind of sending them out, and being, like, more of a product-based business instead of... or, sorry, that's when it became a business, right? And I was now product-based instead of these pop-ups that I was doing. And in that time, I think we raised, like, $4,000, I think, leading to, like, Feb 2021. And it was just like, wow, people actually want to support this. I'm like, this is something I'm doing on the side once a month, easy. And it's being given back to the community in the best way possible. And I continued to work full-time while doing the Abibimon project until, I think, September 2021, until I went full-time. And so I really... or no, September 2022. Time is weird. I think it was September 2021. All the years, huh? Yeah, they're all mushed into one. And then now it's my full-time job. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, I never saw it taking this path. I was like, this is just fun. We're just putting things out there and seeing how it goes. We're supporting communities. Yeah, people actually have an interest in this, and it's really exciting to see. And, like, I'm happy that I found myself in this place, like, you know, representing the community in the way that I do. So I'm very grateful that I have this opportunity. I just, I love it because, like you said, you're just, you're spotlighting, you know, food cultures from around Africa, right? So you're in Ghana, you're in Kenya, you're in Nigeria, you're in Morocco. I mean, it's just, it's amazing. And to, like you said, I think I was reading, you know, how many people can even say how many countries exist on the continent of Africa, right? And, you know, and our current print issue was really about the celebrating. And, you know, I use the word rumble because it's just there's an excitement coming from the continent in terms of reclaiming history, reclaiming ingredients, reclaiming techniques. And we're going to start to see even more come out of the continent and those that are keepers of those cultures, those ingredients, et cetera. And then we've got the extension, as we know, outside of the continent, Toronto here in the U.S. and all of that. So I think that is just great, amazing. And, you know, our good friend Anani Lali, who had on the podcast founded African Food Basket. And, you know, just again, like you said, the culturally appropriate, he knew what he wanted to get to serve the people. And I think that the work that he's doing up there in the organization is truly amazing. And so now you are full time in this role, in this business. What are some of the projects and what what are you looking at, especially for 2024? And you've seen the vision for it as it continues to evolve, right? Yeah. So it's it's very unique that I started this business during the world crisis because it's given me the I would say foresight in some way and also the flexibility to pivot constantly. And so I'm never too set on anything because I'm like, I don't know what's coming for me next. And so I definitely am, you know, I'm talking to a real estate agent. I'm trying to find some a brick and mortar space for myself. You know, I get asked constantly, where's your store? Where can I find your stuff? I'm like, you know, I just invest in the wind. So I'm working on it. But I definitely want to kind of switch what I was doing last year. So last year, I was doing pop ups every single week. And it was absolutely exhausting. I'm sure. So I'm not doing that this year. There's no way I can not I cannot do it. I'm no longer a spring chicken. And so I'm planning to just stick to like two a month, you know, do small intimate dinners. We've hosted a few now and the ambience is a lot more comforting than like a dinner service that's so detached. So we do like a long table, 16 guests, they can see me cooking in the kitchen. I talk to them, I lead conversation. And so it kind of adds that home element to the food where I really want you to feel comforted. I'm like, this is for you to understand that I'm like, I'm cooking food from my soul. And therefore I want to share it to you on a plane that is more community focused than the experience you would have at like a white wall detached restaurant. So that's really been nice because I get to see people's reactions and talk to them and hear what the foods remind them of and really connect with people from all different kinds of backgrounds. And so that's been really nice to experience and get that like immediate feedback, as well for growth for my business, but also just out of curiosity of their experiences. I also with my product line, I'm looking to start wholesaling to more businesses. So at the moment we sell in a couple specialty stores, we have our Kenyan chai on the menu at like the Drake Hotel. They use it for high tea, which is really nice. So we have like our feet in a few places. It's just getting over the hump of capacity where I'm one person and I have two part time people that work with me, but I need to have enough capacity demand in order to upgrade that to full time work. And so I'm really taking this year to make sure I have some stable legs moving forward and just figuring out the longevity plan for the business and how I can continue to grow on the social enterprise legs of it because I really want to mentor youth in the community, especially ones from the diaspora, and really allow them to see that there is, you know, there's a road to success in the food industry. Connecting with your food identity is valid. I've been teaching workshops in school settings, in corporate settings and community settings. And in all of those places, I'm really just sharing my journey and letting them know that it's not necessarily linear finding that identity, but that it's important and that we're all connected through food. And so that's been something else I want to really lean into. So the ideal scenario is my products are doing well enough that I have my staff supporting me and producing those where I can spend time doing workshops and really doing outreach and community spaces. And then together we come and do those dinners and host guests and just have like a wonderful experience of community and food and good vibes. Awesome. And I just love the evolution of what's going on in food. You know, I've been watching it for many, many years now and just love how, you know, people of color are reclaiming who they are in this space and choosing not, you know, it's fine that you, you know, you learn the mother sauces, you learn all those, those techniques and things now, but then now, okay, how can I take that and then still infuse who I am or even just go back to, you know, my childhood favorite, my history and culture and things like that. And I love that. And I think that's very important to me to continue to instill in kids is to be proud of who you are, you know. And I've found a lot too, that there is sort of this wannabe fit in with the kids when you're young and all of that and, you know, speak languages at home, but we're not going to speak them out in public and, you know, they tease me about my accent and whatever. But, you know, then there's this full circle as an adult and you look back at that and you're like, oh man, I wish I would have kept up speaking when mommy was speaking Spanish to me or whatever to me and all of that stuff. Right. So just, you know, that's one of the things I'm truly passionate about is just saying, you know what, culture is beautiful and just really hold on to who you are. It's so, so important. So I love how you're doing that and teaching them young and getting out there. And so, like you said, you did have some pop-ups this month celebrating for coming off of that. And then also with, you know, 54 countries, Africa, you have no lack of inspiration, right? Exactly. I have a lot of subjects I don't work through. Exactly. You're still just scratching the surface, right? On different things. Let me ask you this. It's sort of a non-culinary question, but it's still important. In this space, how are you taking care of you? Because the food life can be a hard life. You know, the entrepreneur life is a hard life. So how are you taking care of yourself in all of this? You know what? I will say that I try my best, but I'm not always very good at it. It's hard to balance because I am my own boss. And sometimes I'm like, oh, the worst boss I've ever had. So, you know, it's hard to like sometimes separate work from life because it's so intertwined. You know, I work from home when I'm doing my admin work. So like my desk is right beside my bed. So I still can look at my pile of invoices that I have to go through. So, you know, I try to sometimes when I'm in the kitchen, you know, I'll listen to a podcast or an audio book and kind of try and reclaim that me time while doing the work. I love going to the gym. It's just a it's a detachment for my mind. And when I'm focusing on not passing out from exhaustion, I can't think about what I have to do in the kitchen. It allows me to really have that moment of peace and separation. I also I get acupuncture and go for like I get like traditional Chinese medicine treatment. So acupuncture, gua sha, massages. And like I say this, like I have a budget for it. I go to a traditional Chinese medicine school. So the students, it's very affordable. And so I do try my best because I know that if I don't take care of myself, I can't continue doing this business. Absolutely. Like if I can take care of myself. It's so needed in the culinary industry. It really is. Between the environments that you're working with, just people, just everything. Right. And you add on different layers of being a woman, being a black woman, you know, it's just all of that. It's a lot. Yeah. So like if there's a day when like I have time to take a nap, I'm going to take a nap. If I can meditate for five minutes sitting on the subway, I will. Like I definitely have the days when I feel like I'm drowning and it happens. But I try my best when I can be okay to be okay. And if not, like, you know, I'll call my mom. I'll call a friend. I'll write it down. Just try and constantly remind myself why I'm doing what I'm doing. Right. And trying to like trick myself into being like, we're going to laugh back on this. It's that mentality. Some days when I'm like, really? Another thing? Come on. Yeah. So yeah, it's definitely a work in progress constantly. But I'm grateful that I have the flexibility that I do. And so, you know, I definitely feel like I take care of myself better now than I did when I was working for other people. That's good. Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful. So what is so what else is coming up in 2024? For you? Yeah, well, I I'm planning all sorts of things, a lot of collabs with different black chefs in the city. Really just looking forward to branching out with the diaspora. And really, you know, I, I never believe and I will never believe that I know everything. And so being able to collab with other chefs that have different experiences and different perspectives and food helps me learn. But also, you know, we bring in two different customer bases. And so that's really unique and fun to do. So I have at least two coming up in April. Dates are to be confirmed, but then we'll definitely have a lot going into the summer as well. And I'm planning a pastry tasting menu, which I'm really, really excited about. It's going to be very fun. And other than that, like, just a lot of I have two dinners, March 10th and March 30th. Okay. So March 10th, we're celebrating like Ghana Independence Day. So a fun menu for that. We're going to do my mom's famous watches, which I'm very excited for. More for me. I tell people straight up, I'm like, it's on the menu because I love it. Okay. The menu this morning. I'm doing it because I want it. So yeah, we're definitely going to be doing that. We're opening workshops up to the public. So I'm teaching cooking workshops where basically the format will be small groups, no more than eight students. And you tell me what African dish you really, really want to learn how to make as long as it can be made within two hours. And then I teach you how to make it between the eight people. We're all making different recipes and then we have like a potluck style meal. And so you all get introduced to something new and then everybody gets like a recipe booklet with the different recipes. So that's something I'm very excited to do. And yeah, hopefully I'm going to throw in some breaks for myself in there and travel to the continent maybe and do some culinary exploration, but that'll be in the off season, maybe in October if I can manage. Got a big busy year. So definitely. Well, tell everybody how they can connect with you. Yeah. So we are the edbbmindproject.com. So our website has our products, our story, how you can connect to us for services or anything like that. We're also the edbbmindproject on Instagram and Facebook. When I remember to post content about our events and products, and I am going to start more just storytelling. My new staffer, she's like, you know, you're so eloquent. You should really just do videos where you talk. And I'm like, oh, you don't get to a raise. But very sweet boy. So I did record a couple videos. So I will be releasing those. Just kind of, you know, these ramblings that I get the opportunity to have at the dinners, kind of putting them out in like a blog format so people can see what kind of goes on in this head of mine. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for joining me today. This has just been great. Again, have been following your work for a year. So it's just great to catch up and really just hear your story. So thank you. I'm very grateful that you had me. I think that this is wonderful what you do. And so to be able to connect with you and for you to have reached out to me, I'm very flattered. So thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you. Take care. Thanks. Bye.