156 Lessons from Cameroon with Agatha Achindu, Author of Bountiful Cooking

You could say that a can of corn changed the life of today’s guest, Agatha Achindu. And not just her life, but the lives of hundreds or even thousands.

When Agatha arrived in the United States 33 years ago - coincidentally, in the exact city in Maryland where I was born, raised, and lived at that time - she was shocked to discover corn in a can. Why not just cook the corn, she asked?

That question, along with a true love of cooking and a simple desire to make people happy and healthy through food, nudged her out of IT, where she was making a living, onto a new path.

Agatha began to help friends, then soon, clients, solve their chronic health problems by teaching them how to identify their

Over her career, she has earned a certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, founded Yummy Spoonfuls, the first nationally distributed frozen organic food for kids, and most importantly, helped hundreds of clients solve their chronic health problems by identifying their nutritional deficiencies and teaching them to make tasty and manageable dishes to correct those deficiencies.

Now, she has distilled her expertise into a beautiful cookbook that can help thousands more, Bountiful Cooking: Wholesome Everyday Meal to Nourish You and Your Family.

But none of this would have been possible apart from the first 23 years of her life. Agatha was born and raised in NAME, a seaside town of Cameroon. Her father worked to develop and distribute life-saving vaccines to the most vulnerable populations in Cameroon. Agatha’s mother was a scholar turned farmer, who owned and worked a profitable plantation many miles from their home. Together, Agatha’s forward-thinking parents instilled in her a belief in her own potential and the power of education and her community taught her all that food could be: a time of happiness, connection, health, and healing. I’m delighted to dive deep into those times with Agatha today and thrilled that you are here to listen to us!!

Highlights

The unique qualities of Cameroon, “African in miniature”
Agatha’s coastal hometown of Limbe, where they could eat fresh fish at all times
2 farms - a large home garden (and orchard) PLUS….
Agatha’s mother’s commercial farm
Monkey fruit???
Her father’s story - 1 of 7 to attend school and how he realized the power of education
The amazing story of her mother, raised by merchants, becoming a farmer while her father, raised on a farm, became an academic.
Agatha’s own love story, spanning 15 years!
JOLLOF RICE!!!! Nigerian, Ghanaian, Cameroonian - Coconut Jollof Rice
All Agatha’s Jollof Rice tips
An outdoor sawdust stove
Why they coated the outside of their pot in palm oil