Where to Start with Yewande Komolafe
Yewande Komolafe is a Berlin-born, Lagos-raised food writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Brooklyn. Her professional career began in classic French pastry kitchens before she moved into fine dining restaurants in Atlanta and New York, where she was one of the first employees of Momofuku Milk Bar. She became a recipe developer and food columnist for The New York Times, where her work introducing Nigerian flavors to a mainstream American audience earned widespread admiration. Her debut cookbook, “My Everyday Lagos,” was nominated for a James Beard Award and named a Best Cookbook of the Year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Food Network, The Boston Globe, and Epicurious. Komolafe writes about food with a rare combination of technical precision and emotional depth, weaving her own story of identity and homecoming through the recipes of her childhood city.
Start here
My Everyday Lagos
Yewande Komolafe · 288 pages · 2023 · Moderate
Themes: nigerian cuisine, lagos cooking, jollof rice, home cooking, diaspora
A deeply personal Nigerian cookbook that captures the vibrant, layered cuisine of Lagos through 75 recipes. Komolafe writes with the precision of a professional recipe developer and the warmth of someone sharing family meals, making this the definitive guide to modern Nigerian home cooking.
Why Start Here
This is Komolafe’s only cookbook so far, and it is the perfect distillation of everything she has learned across her career in professional kitchens and as a food writer. The book covers the full range of Lagos cooking, from quick weekday staples to elaborate weekend dishes. You will learn how to build a proper Nigerian base sauce, how to make puff puff, jollof rice, egusi soup, and peppersoup with short ribs.
Komolafe insists on authenticity without gatekeeping. She teaches technique alongside every recipe, explaining why certain steps matter and how to adjust to your own taste. The recipes are rigorously tested and written with clarity that comes from years of developing recipes for The New York Times.
What to Expect
A substantial 288-page hardcover with location photography from Lagos and detailed food photography. You will need specialty ingredients like palm oil, ground crayfish, fermented locust beans, and various dried peppers. The difficulty is moderate, with some multi-step recipes and unfamiliar techniques, but the instructions are thorough. Named a James Beard Award nominee and Best Cookbook of the Year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Food Network.