Ozoz Sokoh (born 1976) is a Nigerian culinary writer, food historian, recipe developer, and culinary anthropologist. She has organized events around Nigerian foodways, including the first World Jollof Day in 2017.

Early life and education

Sokoh was born in 1976 in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri, Udu, Okpe and Uvwie are the commercial ...

, on the southern coast of Nigeria. She attended the

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which w ...

in Ile-Ife, Nigeria for 3 years, studying Urban and Regional Planning, and left in 1997. She moved to the United Kingdom where she earned a degree in Geology from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. During her time in the UK, she began cooking Nigerian food to feel closer to home. According to Sokoh, she created her first recipe in 1998 while living and going to school in the UK.

Career

After graduating from the University of Liverpool, Sokoh worked as a geologist. She began a culinary blog, Kitchen Butterfly, and blogged about Nigerian food while she lived and worked in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2011. She developed recipes. Upon her return to Nigeria in 2011, she began researching familiar Nigerian ingredients and their uses from the perspective of culinary anthropology. She researched and presented a documentary on Agege bread, a staple in Nigeria, for ‘ For Africans’. In 2018 Sokoh created Feast Afrique, an online curated collection of books relating to the culinary history of West Africa and its diaspora. This collection includes a digital library of 240+

West African West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...

and diasporic culinary and literary resources. She has researched and written about the connections between the foods of West Africa and the foods of nations that engaged in the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

. She organized the first World Jollof Day in 2017. The festival is held to celebrate

Jollof rice Jollof (), or jollof rice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilis, onions, spices, and sometimes other vegetables and/or meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparatio ...

, a dish that is ubiquitous in West Africa and the region's best known dish worldwide. She has created ‘Eat The Book’ experiences, celebrating African food from African writing by creating the dishes at literary and arts festivals. She was the co-organiser of Abori Food System Design Summit, which was held at Alliance Française, Lagos in 2019 and featured food exhibitions, discussions and a farmer's market. In 2020, while a Forecast mentee, Sokoh produced ''Coast to Coast'', a documentary about the spread of West African food through the diaspora.

Personal life

As of 2021 Sokoh lived in Ontario, Canada. She has children.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokoh, Ozoz Living people 1976 births Nigerian women writers Nigerian food writers Culinary arts Obafemi Awolowo University alumni Alumni of the University of Liverpool People from Warri