I have wanted to have Kuda Makoni on this podcast forever. We’ve been acquaintances for a good long while and wanted to get his perspective.
The big reason Kuda is a Zimbabwean-American chef who is passionate about the culinary arts and hospitality. He has run and set up highly profitable kitchens in the US, UAE, Bahrain, Zimbabwe and is now a member of the Groupe Sebastien leadership which he serves as Group Executive Chef based in Accra, Ghana overseeing the running of different culinary units. Kuda has worked for leading organizations such as Radisson Blu, Shade, Starbucks, The Coffee Club, The Foundry, IHG, Innscor, News Cafe & Cafe Nush.
He has an avid love for Pan African/Afro-fusion cuisine especially merging the not so talked about/popularized cuisines of Southern Africa with the more visible cuisines of West, North and East Africa.
In this episode, we talk about his move and adjustment to the U.S. as a young person on the cusp of adulthood. He shares his personal journey of trying to find the right spaces to fit and how his eventual journey into the culinary world just changed everything. And given that he’s a chef, we definitely get into the nuances of cooking Afro-fusion cuisine.
I hope you enjoyed this episode – and if you do, don’t forget to subscribe, review and share with a friend!
"Because I realized the way people looked at me as an African was kind of different then when I said I was African-American…. So I started identifying more with my American style than my African style. But Ghana sort of brought me back and centered me back to being an African.”
Powered by RedCircle
EPISODE CONTENT | HIGHLIGHTS:
Why he would’ve gone done an additional year of high school if he had the chance. [6:39]
A chance encounter with a motivational speaker that started him on a culinary career path. [14:37]
How he ended up homeless in after a positive start to his career. [21:39]
How he leverage social media to build a following in Zimbabwe. [27:49]
Why Ghana brought out his African identity. [40:13]
SOCIAL MEDIA:
You can find Kuda on Instagram.