A sample menu of the dishes that will be taught include:

• Nigerian Fried Rice
• Garnished Plantain 
• Uzobah (Nigerian Coconut Custard Pudding)|

This menu contains shellfish but can be made vegetarian. Allergens include: crustaceans, mustard, milk, soy.

A message from our Chef Stella:

“Hi, my name is Stella, I grew up in Nigeria and started cooking and growing food from a very young age. I LOVE food, I love the cooking, the sharing food with others and the way that it brings people together.

I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, but worked from a young age in my mother’s street food restaurant making akara, a popular cake made from beans, plantain, and her own creation, another special snack called meat pie. Her food was very popular as it was so yummy! We had a small farm where we would grow our own aubergines, okra, mango, palm, beans, yam and other delicious vegetables, everything was organic and tasted so much better than the ingredients you get in the supermarkets over here.

When I grew up I met a man, we can say that he is a nasty man. He promised me opportunity, a future and said that he would take me to Europe. He did some horrible things to me, and took me to England, where I became stuck in a situation that I do not want to go into here. I experienced lots of racism and abuse and felt very scared, but I always had the voices of my mother and father with me, encouraging me and giving me belief of a better future.

After 3 and a half years a friend helped me to escape, I found support with the Helen Bamber Foundation and joined a choir, a photography group, a hiking club. They also introduced me to Migrateful to continue developing my main passion, cooking!

My aim in life is to be a chef, writing recipes and sharing my creations with the world. It makes me so happy for people to be eating my dishes. I would also love to have a garden or an allotment, or even a farm, to grow my own vegetables, to be able to make the best food, caring for the ingredients from seed to plate.”

Migrateful is an award-winning charity & social enterprise supporting asylum seekers, refugees & migrants in their journey to integration & independence through preparing them to lead cookery classes in their native cuisine. As well as Bristol, Brighton & Kent, Migrateful runs classes in London hosted at the flagship Cookery School in Clerkenwell, Holdspace (Angel), St Ethelburga’s Community Centre (Bishopsgate) and All Saint’s Parish Church (Peckham). Cuisines include Sri Lankan, Jamaican, Iranian and Nicaraguan.