Maria Kamau, also known as Mkay, is a Kenyan ICF-certified travel coach, travel writer and bodacious adventurer who has travelled to 100 countries and all 47 counties of Kenya. Sao Tome and Principe became her 100th country after a 37-year international travel journey that began with a school trip to Germany in 1989.

Her achievement is not a story of diplomatic access or large sponsorships. Only about 15 of her country visits were connected to official work; most were self-funded through long-term saving, budgeting and deliberate financial choices. Travelling with an ordinary Kenyan passport has also meant navigating demanding visa applications, higher costs, extensive documentation and occasional immigration scrutiny.

Maria now uses Travel with Mkay to help people, particularly women and African travellers, approach travel with courage and practical preparation.

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Diaspora Food Stories is produced by The Global Food and Drink Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit. Together with your generous donation we can continue to preserve the oral history and culture of Black food and drink stories both in English and other languages spoken throughout the African diaspora. To donate, visit globalforgood.org.

Website: Diaspora Food Stories

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Ozoz Sokoh is an award-winning food explorer, educator and budding curator who began journaling about food on her blog, Kitchen Butterfly, in 2009. Her research and documentation explore the roots of Nigerian and West African cuisine, the impact of West African intellectual contributions to global development from the American South, through the Caribbean to Europe and Latin America, and the connection to the Afro diaspora.

She released her first cookbook, "Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria," in 2025 which celebrates the vibrant, diverse world of Nigerian cuisine, featuring dishes like spiced beef suya, rich egusi soup, jollof rice, puff puff, and hibiscus drinks.

In this episode, the Nigerian native and Canadian resident shares how one recipe started her journey of food documention and the importance of ensuring Nigerian recipes and traditions always have a safe place to be passed down to future generations.

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Diaspora Food Stories is produced by The Global Food and Drink Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit. Together with your generous donation we can continue to preserve the oral history and culture of Black food and drink stories both in English and other languages spoken throughout the African diaspora. To donate, visit globalforgood.org.

Website: Diaspora Food Stories

We're heading back to the beautiful island of La Réunion for this conversation with food content creator Jennie Léonie.

Located in the Indian Ocean, La Réunion is a small island known for its warmth and dedication to preserving Creole culture and history. Jennie grew up in a family that shaped her strong connection to the island's culinary culture.

On her Instagram page and YouTube channel, she shares easy, accessible recipes designed for active women in La Réunion, helping them bring their cultural identity into everyday cooking through small, creative twists. Her approach highlights modern, practical cooking that stays rooted in Réunionese ingredients and heritage, while documenting food experiences across the island, the Indian Ocean, and beyond.

If you are looking to learn more about what make this island so special and a must-visit, you'll want to listen to this episode.

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Related Articles from Cuisine Noir

Réunion Island Celebrates Creole Gastronomy With Its First Creole Food Festival

Creole Chefs Gather in Reunion Island For First-Ever Food Festival Honoring Legacy and Traditions

Diaspora Food Stories is produced by The Global Food and Drink Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit. Together with your generous donation we can continue to preserve the oral history and culture of Black food and drink stories both in English and other languages spoken throughout the African diaspora. To donate, visit globalforgood.org.

Website: Diaspora Food Stories

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We're back for part 2 as we follow Chef Russell Jackson from California to New York and the opening of his first restaurant Reverence NYC, which he closed in February 2025.

However, as a chef who knows how to innovate, he is on to his next projects, Unity Market and Reverence Phoenix, which are set to open in New York's iconic Central Park on June 20.

Check out the second part of our conversation and if you haven't listen to part 1, you'll want to do so because it is just as good.

You can also follow his work on social media and support his projects with a donation.

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NYC-based chef Russell Jackson doesn't do things like others when it comes to his work and how he looks at food. The industry veteran of 49 years has worked in some of the best restaurants from West to East and also developed his own concepts in between to present food the way he feels it should be; in its simplest form, yet delicious.

We're talking with him in this 2-part series that starts in California and ends with the soon to be opening of Unity Market and Reverence Phoenix in New York's iconic Central Park on June 20. Along with sharing his story, he is sharing his vision for the next chapter of his impressive culinary career.

Enjoy part 1 and then come (June 10) as we release part 2. You can also follow his work on social media and support his upcoming projects with a donation.

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(As part of our work to present food cultures of the African diaspora through language, this episode is available in French only. However, you can read about the upcoming The Sommet & Festival International des Chefs Créoles in Reunion on Cuisine Noir).

Ceci est un épisode spécial du podcast de Diaspora Food Stories en Français avec l'animatrice invitée Madalena Pedro Miala en conversation avec Jean-Charles Bertrand, restaurateur et fondateur du Sommet & Festival International des Chefs Créoles, le premier festival culinaire créole de la Réunion qui aura lieu entre le 22 mai – 24 mai.

La Réunion est peut-être une nouvelle destination pour beaucoup, mais elle a une histoire vaste et puissante qui prendra le devant de la scène grâce à la nourriture dans moins d'un mois.

Au cours de cet épisode, Jean-Charles partage ce qui fait de la Réunion une île à découvrir et explorer, ainsi que comment la diversité de ses habitants a non seulement façonné la culture, mais aussi la façon dont la nourriture porte l'histoire et les traditions, en particulier la cuisine créole.

Avec des chefs venant d'Europe, des Caraïbes et d'autres régions intermédiaires, Jean-Charles nous présente les points forts de l'événement qui ajouteront et feront monter la Réunion sur votre liste de voyage.

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Article connexe de Cuisine Noir

Reunion Island Creole Gastronomy With Its First Creole Food Festival

Zella Palmer, is an author, professor, filmmaker, curator, scholar and the Chair and Director of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana. Palmer is committed to documenting and preserving the legacy African American, Creole, Indigenous and LatinX culinary history. As the Chair of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program, Palmer filmed and produced the Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot documentary. In 2020, under Palmer's leadership, Dillard University launched a Food Studies Minor at Dillard University.

Her latest publications, Recipes and Remembrances of Fair Dillard: 1869-2019 (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press) and James Beard Foundation Semi-Finalist (U.S. Foodways) Ed Mitchell's Barbeque (Harper Collins, June 2023) shares some of her rich research and she released her latest documentary Grenada to the World in August 2025.

Zella is extending her legacy through her work advising higher education institutions, museums, and tourism ministries on integrating artificial intelligence while safeguarding culture, memory, and human meaning. In alignment with her professional work, she is also studying to become an herbal physician, answering a deeply ancestral calling.

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Sheri Raleigh is a prominent chef Instructor and the owner of Cast Iron Skillet Culinaire, LLC, based in Waco, Texas. She has made significant contributions to the culinary world as the founder of the Gifts From The Ancestors Foodways Project and the author of two notable works, "Okra & Tomatoes" and "Creole Celebrations."

With a rich background in cross-cultural education, Sheri offers community cooking classes across various sectors, including education, hospitality, and healthcare. Her establishment, Cast Iron Skillet Culinaire, is dedicated to delivering "culinary edutainment" and fostering team-building experiences, with a particular focus on Creole cuisine.

She is also the founder of the Lawrence J. and Viola M. Raleigh Hospitality Scholarship in honor of her parents at Northwestern State University in Louisiana, which is current accepting donations to ensure it is fully endowed by the end of this year.

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Learn more and donate to the Lawrence J. and Viola M. Raleigh Hospitality Scholarship.