Our interview with Chef Aicha Ballo

Chef Aicha Ballo is an expert in exotic flavors and spices. She provides a wide range of original culinary creations and specialties. She founded the Afro Gourmet that specializes in providing to professionals and individuals quality gourmet cuisine. You will find different types of dishes in her Afro Gourmet such as dishes resulting from the mixture of flavors from around the world and African cuisine. Typical examples of such dishes include salmon burger with potato fresh vegetable, cassoulet, cassava and plantain, thiebou fication paella and others.

Her Afro Gourmet offers culinary specialty and dishes suitable for different kinds of occasions and events such as birthday parties, baptisms, weddings and many more. Aisha has made a name for herself through her Afro Gourmet. She has catered many ceremonies such as the Be Black ceremony and others.

In this interview, Aisha talks about her career, where she learned the art of cooking and how she started her Afro Gourmet business.

Hello,

How are you?

Thank you so much for thinking of me.

How did your love affair with the kitchen begin?

My father owned  a beautiful restaurant in Côte d’Ivoire and my mother was an amazing chef. Cooking for me is a real passion, I feel comfortable in my kitchen.

My Dad and I prepared brunch every weekend. Tchieb (Senegalese dish) was always prepared on Sundays in a party atmosphere.  

For me, the kitchen is a defined border and it is an art. My culinary dish are so beautiful that you would view it more as an art work than food.

I have been cooking since i can remember, but I think with age my love for food is growing
My passion into rage and ambition to succeed.

Tell us the story, please.

I love sharing and  mixing flavors.

My story is simple I needed a few things that could make my business flourish very quickly.
I asked myself one day, what do i want to do with my future? So I  analyzed my life and I imagined a brighter future.
Tired of small jobs, and  working from check to check  to pay the bills and survive, I decided to start my own business.
My love of cooking pushed me towards being a chef, and as time went on my love for cooking grew.

I started my business 5 years ago by selling my culinary dishes for 5 Euros at  Shateau D’eau water with my caddy orange  and today still without a diploma and the same love for cooking and I rub shoulders with amazing people and i have traveled to amazing places.
Frankly I never imagined such a result ( it took a lot of work and sacrifice) Today oddly African Gourmet is far from what I would like so.
There is still work but I think the hardest part is over (fingers crossed) and it will only get better.

Where can we taste your cooking?

Currently only order via the website or our Facebook page (meal trays, cocktail, evening launch party with friends, weddings, cooking classes)
www.afro-Gourmet.fr
African Gourmet Facebook

What is your favorite dish?

I am very simple and in fact I’m not a big greedy I especially like to please palait other. I am very critical of myself and never satisfied.

I love spaghetti with steak and cheese fan but I am chutttt.

What is your favorite international dish?

I love when my paella tchieb Africa Spain crosses and all spicy Asian flavors.
I love all cultures together in my recipes.
I think this is what makes African Gourmet different.

Your specialty – the recipe please, for our readers:

I offer the macarons how African Gourmet ideal starter or appetizer.

The dish that you like to cook. Why?

I love all cooking and I admit to not be true because it is my imagination guide me and for the moment it is limitless.

What do you least like to  cook. Why?

Specialization restaurants because I think the kitchen is an area that allows you to travel and to travel.
 
Heeuuu is washing large pots ggrrr but I do not like it do part of the job.

What are you inspired by when you create new recipes?

Looolll I think about my future restaurant.
I tell myself that I’ll work more, the more I invent original dishes the faster my revenue revenue to reach my goals.

Your favorite restaurant in Paris or elsewhere, why?

The Albariños Café restaurant Afro-Mexican I find it very nice, the menu is simple and cheap.
The home and never read and perfectly demonstrates that the kitchen and restaurant African can adapt to modernization

What news of your agenda you want to share with our readers?

For the moment African Gourmet catering event remains more deliveries and cooking classes
Currently we are working on a new comm, new shooting giving a more glamor to our concept
The Event is currently our most pole request and we hope that applications will increase numerous and possibly international, because our goal is to export African Gourmet. In less than 2 years and activated applications are almost doubled in knowing that we really start from scratch.
We believe and hope that the 3rd year will be even better.
It will be. 

What advice would you give to aspiring chefs?

We must all love before cooking, sharing because it is a very hard job and hang on because it’s not easy every day.
Never give up. To me every difficulty falling is a future victory.

By Stream Africa

Dishes from Aicha Ballo.

Photos: Malaika Marie Jeanne

Africa Global News Publication