How Nigerian Hospitality Brands Are Creating Homegrown Fine Dining w/ Chef Wu and Chef Vee
Uncooked WomenPlay episode
Show notes
Before Nigerian food can take its place on the world stage, there's work to do at home. Nearly 70% of food shipped abroad gets rejected over poor trade facilitation, and 60-65% of harvests are lost before they even reach a market.
Nigeria exports raw ingredients, but struggles to export finished, shelf-stable products. In this episode of Uncooked Women, two Nigerian-owned hospitality brands are working through what it actually takes to fix that: from harvest, to processing, to service.Adaorah Oduah sits down with Chef Wunmi Durosinmi-Etti (founder, Ounje Co.) and Chef Vanessa Cole (founder, Cole Cooks), hospitality connoisseurs whose careers span London to Lagos, to talk about what hospitality truly means and why service and emotion sit at its center. They discuss the state of fine dining in Lagos, the philosophies guiding their respective practices, and what it takes to turn Nigerian raw ingredients into shelf-stable, exportable products.In this episode:
• What hospitality really means, from omakase to chewing sticks• The state of fine dining and private dining in Nigeria • Why Nigeria exports raw materials instead of finished products • Post-harvest loss, poor transport & the case for local manufacturing • Building Nigerian-owned hospitality brands on their own termsWatch the full episode on Youtube to learn more about what it takes to build a culinary business in Nigeria.
