Celebrating exceptional Women in West African & Caribbean Food Culture (part 2)

I’m still in the spirit of celebrating exceptional women in food culture, but before I go on, happy new month, guys! We made it to the second quarter of 2025.

You can catch up here if you missed part 1 of this series.

So, let’s dive into the next set of women who have helped shape the West African and Caribbean food culture.

6. Tregaye Fraser

Tregaye Fraser is an American chef who came to the limelight as the winner of the 12th season of the Food Network TV series, Food Network Star. Her cooking style is American fusion. She cited her grandmother as her first influence in the culinary world. This was a step in the right direction that pushed her to obtain a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu.

In addition to this, she founded Playing the Game Tour (P.T.G.T.), a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire people from all over to be true to themselves and to learn to overcome adversity. P.T.G.T. also teaches creative culinary wisdom with awesome creative methods like cafeteria takeovers and teaching healthy cooking.

7. Nina Compton

Chef Nina Compton is a native of St. Lucia. Her cooking style mixes the rich culinary traditions of New Orleans with those of her Caribbean roots. Nina began her career at Daniel in New York City, alongside Chef Daniel Boulud. Her restaurant, Compère Lapin, was named “Best New Restaurant” by both New Orleans Magazine and The Times-Picayune. In 2017, she received the “Best New Chefs 2017” award from Food & Wine magazine, and then, in 2018, she took home the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: South.

Interestingly, she was a contestant in the popular cooking competition Top Chef, Season 11, where she emerged as the runner-up and was voted fan favourite by viewers.

8. Tolani Tayo-Osikoya

Tolani Tayo-Osikoya, popularly known by her alias Chef T., is a culinary master of several African delicacies. Her culinary journey began at just 8 years old when her mom declared her the chef of her household after whipping up a delicious Nigerian fried rice recipe.

Although she is an accounting graduate, she learned how to turn a hobby into a profession. Her journey to culinary stardom started by experimenting with her husband’s meals and documenting them online, leading to a rise of dedicated followers eager to learn fun and creative West African recipes. You can find some of these recipes on her dedicated Instagram page, Diary of a Kitchen Lover, which doubles down as her food blog.

Her impact in the culinary world has not gone unnoticed. In 2023, she was featured as one of the 50 most impactful voices for International Women’s Day for ABCD Africa. Subsequently, in 2024, she was involved in the Goalkeepers initiative, a subsidiary of the Gates Foundation, in a campaign against malnutrition. Today, she is a voice impacting the Nigerian and West African food industry and beyond.

9. Failatu Abdul-Razak

Failatu Abdul-Razak is a Ghanaian chef who unofficially broke the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking marathon, clocking in at 227 hours after cooking for 10 days in Tamale, Ghana.

Presently, she owns and co-founded Mickey’s Inn, a continental restaurant in Tamale. In addition to cooking, she has been an advocate of women’s and children’s rights. This initiated her induction as a team member of the Ijbah Ghana Foundation, a non-profit government organization (NGO) that aims to help and assist orphans in the city.

In celebration of Women’s Month, this post shows we can make a difference in any field we choose. As long as there’s a drive and commitment to excellence, the possibilities are limitless.

Our professional catering services are still up and running. We cater to weddings, birthdays, and any form of celebration that requires people to be fed. We do this on both a large-scale and a small-scale level.

So on that note, if you would like to book us for your next event or make inquiries, please send an email to info@mskitchendelights.com. You can also visit our website for more information on our services and what we are about.

Till next time. This is M signing off.