African Food Writer Freda Muyambo

Freda Muyambo, Food Writer and African Cuisine Expert

Freda Muyambo began exploring and writing about African cuisine more than 10 years ago on her blog My Burnt Orange, and today is an established expert who focuses on unexplored cuisines on the African continent.

She began entertaining friends while living in London, remembering the elaborate dishes her mother used to make growing up in Botswana. She began sharing her journey with food on her blog, My Burnt Orange. Her focus on My Burnt Orange soon evolved to exploring ingredients, dishes and cuisines of Africa and launched her career as a food writer.

Freda is of Ghanaian descent and an engineer by trade and shares about her entry into the food world, saying, “That moment was when I realized that after a tough day firefighting at work, in engineering it was and still is very male dominated so every day you have to prove why you are there, why you’ve got this job, that you’re qualified to do this job and you know that kind of environment can be quite stressful so I was able to come home and forget all about it and cook something that made me really happy, so that was when cooking…stopped being a chore. It became an escape. It became something that filled me.”

Since launching her blog, Freda has gone on to pen articles about African cuisine for Amex Essentials, Spruce.com, Radiant Health Magazine and countless other publications and websites. She has been featured on the BBC and in The African Economist and Guardian UK.

In 2018, she co-authored “The Science of Spice,” which explores the spices of the African continent and is one of 32 women to collaborate with James Beard award-winning author Bryant Terry for his highly acclaimed book, “Black Food.”

On this episode, Sheree and Freda talk about the rise of African cuisine and the beauty and diversity that can be found on the continent that varies by region, country and cultures.

After listening, follow Freda’s work at www.myburntorange.com and on Facebook and Instagram. You can also watch her in action on YouTube.