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PressRoom
Guest
- Uneku Haruna is a Nigerian food blogger and counselling psychologist. She not only curates about recipes and different meals on Kauna Kitchen, she offers personal chef and catering services both in Nigeria and Canada. Uneku aspires to launch a food channel very soon, and offer free e-books to her subscribers. She shared this, and many more on Nigerian Bulletin Blogger Series.
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1. Who is behind Kauna Kitchen? My name is Uneku Haruna. I am a counselling psychologist. I enjoy event planning as well and I'm a certified wedding planner. Three of my favorite things are my husband's eyes, babies, and nature. My family are my strongest cheerleaders; I owe much of my growth in life to their love and support. I am madly in love with dimples and though neither I nor anyone in my immediate family have them; I strongly believe that at least 2 of my unborn children will come forth with dimpled smiles.
2. What is the mission and vision of your platform? The vision is to create the most comprehensive and captivating online culinarypedia for the Nigerian audience. And we have a mission to share personal, relevant, and recent culinary knowledge, skills, tips, experience etc. via posts, videos, and other engaging online sharing platforms.
3. Kauna Kitchen - what is the inspiration behind the name? Actually a friend of mine took it upon herself to help find a name for the business on the day I officially decided to turn my hobby into a profession. She came up with the word Kauna as an acronym of my first and last name "Uneku Haruna". Unbeknownst to her, I heard "Kauna" and the name rung a bell because I knew that "Kauna" was actually the Hausa word for "love". It felt so right because love is the best word to describe my affinity for cooking. At that time I knew that it was no coincidence and that the name had to be God ordained and that sealed the deal for me.
4. When did you start the blog and what has been the high point so far? I started the blog in early 2013. Whenever a blog reader shares their success story in the kitchen after trying out a recipe or kitchen tip they saw on the blog. This is the high point for me; it's all about sharing knowledge that makes a person's time in the kitchen less stressful and a more fun.
5. What is your favourite dish of all time and why? I don't have a favourite dish. There are a number of meals I enjoy but If had to choose; my favorite dish could very well be omelettes. I love eggs; especially when they are fluffy. I enjoy being able to add and combine almost any ingredient in an omelette and enjoy the different flavours that are borne from that process. I enjoy smoothies as well.
Avocado Banana smoothie
Pawpaw Orange Smoothie
6. What has surprised you the most on this journey? That people are actually reading the blog posts everyday. It's always surprising and humbling to see that people actually need information on cooking and all that. I generally check the search terms that bring visitors to the blog (so that I can provide people with relevant content), and it's surprising to see some of the information people are seeking. For example, a search term like "how to prepare a Nigerian 3 course meal" tells me that there's someone out there who doesn't know what a three course meal is. That fuels my desire to continue sharing knowledge because there's always someone in need.
7. What 5 things do you think every Nigerian should know about what you do at the Kauna Kitchen? Kauna Kitchen is also a registered business in Canada offering personal chef and catering services. Kauna Kitchen recently started branching into food education via video posts for more visually inclined learners. One of our future goals is to launch a food channel.
I am currently in the process of completing my culinary school program. I encourage anyone passionate about cooking to take time out to learn from other professionals as well because it pays. I am beginning to see the benefits of acquiring proper education in this field.
Kauna Kitchen will soon be offering free ebooks for to all our subscribers. We are currently in the editing process and should have the first ebook out by the end of August.
Kauna Kitchen receives reader and guest posts for anyone interested in showcasing or sharing their recipes or food related knowledge. Send your content to [email protected] and we will be more than happy to feature it on the blog.
My biggest mentor in the Nigerian culinary field is Ozoz Sokoh of Kitchen Butterfly.She is doing an amazing job with Nigerian cuisine and I get quite a bit of inspiration from her work.