2021 | A Keynote Speech on Reclaiming and Reimagining Food History
In June, I was invited to give a keynote speech - my first ever - at the Vancouver Island University’s Food and Sovereignty symposium.
The announcement: “…Ozoz Sokoh will highlight how food is more than nourishment for the body but also an important aspect of people’s history and heritage…
The YouTube Video is embedded here, on the right. Thanks for watching.
The symposium was funded and supported by Vancouver Island university, University of Massachusetts Boston, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council, University of Minnesota, Wiley Press, Gender & History.
2020 | Introduction as Forecast Mentee
Ozoz Sokoh explores the legacy of West African culinary excellence with a project nominated in the category Curating as Unearthing, mentored by Koyo Kouoh. Sokoh, aka The Kitchen Butterfly, is a food explorer and a “traveler by plate,” dedicated to exploring sociopolitical, economic, and culinary pathways and practices related to the production and consumption of food. She believes that “food is more than eating.”
Her project explores the legacy of West African culinary excellence from the 15th century through the Transatlantic slave trade, its contribution to the Industrial Revolution, and global development—narratives rarely visible, often erased, hardly celebrated, commonly appropriated. Through research, she documents and pays homage to evidence of West African intellectual contributions to the development of commodities such as rice, coffee, indigo, sugar, cotton, and more.
Ozoz’s proposal is knit by three strands: what home is and what home does, away from home; a passion for, a desire to preserve West African food history and heritage; and a revelation of deep connections. The goal is to unearth the legacy of West African knowledge systems while decolonizing historical records and shaping contemporary food media to reimagine the future, from coast to coast.
Attribution: Video by Moois
2020 | A Tale of Two Fritters: Nigerian Akara & Brazilian Acarajé
A tale of two black-eyed fritters connected through the Transatlantic slave trade. Its perseverance in Brazil is a tale of the strength of love and memory.
Acarajé is a food of black resistance - a refusal to forget home, a way to find joy in spite of the trauma, to hold on, for centuries of enslavement, never forgotten.
2019 | Food is More Than Eating Exhibition
Ozoz Sokoh talking about her inspiration for creating and curating a Nigerian food exhibition as part of a Food Design Summit organized in Lagos, Nigeria
2017 | An Ode to Jollof
An ode, in praise of Jollof rice and World Jollof Rice day, celebrating Nigeria and West Africa's star dish.
2016 | Hopes & Dreams
A short video sharing my hopes and dreams for African cuisine