Zendaya

Zendaya on the Hot Seat 

1. What inspired you to become a Chef?

Learning to cook and basically survive on our own was a necessity in my community. We grew up to be a tribe of strong-willed and independent women with our own set of skills and interests. Some of us were into weaving, some into painting, but all of us indulged in various local art forms and traditions of Zambia. Cooking scratched that ick for me! Cooking a hearty meal and receiving words of appreciation made my day, and to be able to turn that into a full-time career is nothing short of a dream come true!

2. What is your signature dish? What do people love about it?

Gotta give it to Bunny Chow on my menu. It’s the first dish I served in the restaurant, and it’s marked under one of the specials of the restaurant, so it’ll always be close to my heart. Bunny chow is essentially a kind of bread bowl. You take a loaf of white bread, hollow out the middle and fill it with a curry, either vegetarian beans or some type of meat.

3. How do you describe your overall cooking philosophy?

Mine is based on seasonal eternally fresh sustainable products. I am adventurous having wings and wheels and have met many Professional known Chefs. I dislike complicated recipes. I believe that a good recipe is simply written or stated.  

4. I’m very fascinated by your headscarf. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Headwraps are traditional attire in many Sub-Saharan African cultures. The Yoruba in Nigeria calls their artfully folded wraps geles. Ghanaian women call theirs dukus. South African and Namibian women often use the Afrikaans word doek. Where, when, and how headwraps are styled may represent wealth, ethnicity, marital status, mourning, or reverence. Despite the dispersal of African communities due to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, emancipation, the Great Migration, and globalization, this black hair fashion has stood the test of time and space. The headwrap materially links black women of the West with the traditions of their ancestors, and with their cousins across the Atlantic.

5. Is there a chef you look up to? What about them inspires you the most?

Probably my parents. Not that either was much of a cook themselves but they entertained a lot and knew some very nice things to serve. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and got very interested in food preparation. That plus being armed with a bunch of 19th-century cookbooks I loved recreating dishes from the past. I served poached cod with egg sauce, mock turtle soup made from a calf’s head, blancmange, steamed puddings, and lots of other dishes.