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 paediatrician 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 mportant for families to pass down recipes that have worked from generation to generation. Not only because they help with sickness and allergies, but also thatthey 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.