A cook from Lagos, feeding Toronto out of a small kitchen.

Holly's mother ran her catering business out of the family house in Surulere. There was always a pot on the fire, always someone pounding yam, always trays headed to a wedding or a naming ceremony. Holly was ten when she learned to grind pepper for stew without watching her hands, and to tell by the smoke when the jollof was nearly there.

When she moved to Toronto, two things stayed with her: the family, and the food they made together. She started cooking on weekends for friends. Friends told friends. Before long it was full owambes. Holly's Kitchen has taken orders since 2017, cooking out of a Toronto kitchen and delivering across the GTA. The storefront is the next chapter.

We still cook the way her mother did. Small batches, made the morning they go out, never held over. Spice we toast and grind ourselves. Yam pounded by hand, because it eats nothing like the flour version. Every tray leaves the kitchen with the care you'd give a Sunday meal at home.