Hi, I am Ethan Imara Omukhango. At home, they call me Chef Etan. I am 7 years old and I love cooking.
When I was born, I was allergic to many things. My family have told me that my first two years were very hard. No matter how many times they went to the hospital, my parents could not figure out what was wrong. One day, Dr. Yvonne, a pediatrician in Nairobi, went out of her way to help my parents figure out what was causing my allergies.
One was animal hair and fur. My parents took everything made of wool out of the house, including sweaters, blankets, and other things. They also stopped Charlie and Cookie, our two dogs, from coming into the house. Later, Courage and Brave, our two cats, also could not come inside because of my reaction to fur. Dr. Yvonne also used the elimination method, which involved eating only one food for two weeks to see how my body would react. After many months, it was clear that the only protein I could eat was from white meat. My parents stopped me from eating eggs, beans, beef, and other proteins.
For the first five years of my life, I only ate chicken: whether it was fried, stewed, boiled, minced, deep-fried, or with sauce. I became interested in cooking chicken because of this. It was the only meat I could eat.
One day my mum called her mother, my Shosho (grandmother) Lucy, to tell her about my allergies. Shosho told my mum that she had the same thing happen to her when she was a child. Therefore, my allergies are inherited from my mum. In addition to what the doctor had told my parents, Shosho also told them what to do to help me get over my allergies or learn how to deal with them. Shosho advised my mum not to stop me from eating proteins altogether that my body does not learn to do without them. In addition, some of the home remedies she gave to my mum worked. This was helpful information that my Shosho passed on to my mum who then passed it to me.
From the first six years of life, I have learned that it is important for families to pass down recipes that have worked from generation to generation. Not only because they help with sickness and allergies, but also that they are things the family has enjoyed for many decades and generations. I keep track of these recipes so that I may make them again in the future.
Finally, because of spending so much time with my mum in the kitchen from an early age, finding creative ways to cook chicken, I developed the love for cooking. She would allow me to help her cut vegetables and tell her stories while she was cooking. At age four, she allowed me to start cooking here and there. Though I would create more cleaning work for her because I was little and so messy, she allowed it. She is my inspiration in cooking and I thank her for giving me the space to know and love cooking. I want to keep going and do well in it.
Now I collect recipes from my family members and put them together that I may keep cooking yummy food for family and friends. It is from that experience that my family helped me put together my first book. It officially started on my 6th birthday – my family bought me a knife, chopping board, rolling pin, an apron and hat called a ‘toque’ among others.
On my 7th birthday in July 2023, my mom allowed me to cook all the meals for the guests apart from rice and beef (I am yet to learn how to do them) so our nanny cooked for me. Everyone also brought me more stuff to help me cook. I got a hand mixer, aprons, chef’s knife set, and cooking pots. I also got two small shelves to put my things. That was the best birthday ever for me.
My book has my first signature recipes that I know how to cook. It also has devotional sections around cooking and my mom, Muthoni Omukhango contributed that for me. It has sections where families can encourage their children to gather recipes that are important to their family.
I hope this book will help all families to start collecting their family’s recipes! Not just to avoid sickness but to also keep the memories of their loved family members. If I shall be allowed, I will want to cook something in the upcoming ACABA Gala as I have never cooked for so many people! But I know I can do it. That’s what I am good at doing. I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen and I love it.
I just received my book a few weeks ago and I hope you will enjoy filling the blank spaces with recipes for your family so your children can keep the memories in the future. We called it ‘Preserving Family Legacy’. You can do it with meals.
Maybe later there will be legacy book for travels, events and anything that can tell the future children, what parents in the past were passionate for as a family.
Watch out for my YouTube Channel with my sisters Abiah and Ella Omukhango. We will all be doing what we are good at, my section will be all about food. It’s called – Our Little Corner of the World. We also plan to have a website, www.omukhangos.space. We are all happy to have something to do together as a family.
