Do you remember a time when looking for a recipe online or in magazines, all we had were articles and recipes written by the western world? In most cases, the ingredients were non-existent locally or had difficult names such as anchovies or artichokes. We couldn’t understand the difference between coriander and celery and what differentiates Irish potatoes from our normal potatoes. Unless one of your relatives was a chef in a Five Star hotel in the country, then foreign food was not a problem. Most of the ingredients were also not locally available or had different names than what we are used to only to realize bell peppers and hoho are pretty much the same thing.
Do you also remember the well-known and articulately done local food show Let’s Cook? This was the beginning of growth in the culinary industry as a country. Cooking always seemed easy when you watched Susan Kamau prepare tantalizing food our television at the comfort of your home. If owning a television set was way beyond available, you could pull out her articles in the local newspaper and save them for a later date. Cooking interesting dishes became interesting and one couldn’t wait to host a dinner party.
Our 44 ethnic backgrounds are diverse with each culture portraying different ways of cooking and preparing food. With 44 tribes, we should be at the fore front of providing world class meals to the rest of the world just like France, Italy and most European and Asian countries are well known for with their diversity in food and uniqueness in what they eat.
However, over a short period of time, a number of local food bloggers and vloggers as well as local chefs, have come to the rescue providing us with simple measl which we can prepare without having to pronounce difficult words or wonder where we can get a particular ingredient. As when there was only one TV show showcasing locally done recipes, today they are in almost every local channel. Newspapers will also have a recipe or two every week all from talented individuals who make it Kenyan.
From making local recipes a must to do list in our kitchen lives and coming up with recipes using locally sourced ingredients, these food bloggers in Kenya showcase a wide range of skills. They also show us how easy it is to prepare even the hardest deserts and pastry and why we should love and eat healthy and locally grown food.
Food Bloggers
Food Vloggers
How have these food content curators and many others revolutionized how we cook and what we eat? Cooking locally sources food has been made easy as they explain and detail the different meal preparations. Using local examples and cooking methods has also been simplified since you really don’t have to wonder where you get and use even the simplest utensils and ingredients. They also show us how to simply lay out food on our plates.
Food blogging may not necessarily be for top notch chefs as you will have realized from the list. You only require to be passionate about food and its presentation. Food blogging also requires a lot of creativity and having great photos to go along with the mels prepared. When doing vlogging, the quality of the video should be high quality and detailed to make it easy for viewers to see the content.
Who is your favorite food online content curator?
Image Credit | Kaluhi’s Kitchen