Our Story

 

Generations ago, the Aganyin women of Togo arrived in Lagos with their pots and their confidence. They set up on street corners, cooked their bold, unapologetic sauces, and watched as an entire city fell in love. Lagos named a dish after them: Ewa Aganyin. It remains one of the most iconic street foods in Nigeria to this day.

Our founder was born in Ibadan , the world capital of Yoruba culture , and raised by her mother in Calabar, Nigeria’s undisputed food capital. Calabar women are celebrated across the country for their mastery of herbs, vegetables, and a depth of flavour that people travel hundreds of miles to experience.

But it was the formative years spent in her grandmother’s kitchen in Lagos that shaped everything. Her grandmother is Togolese — Aganyin — and carried the same fire that conquered a city of twenty million. The time in that kitchen was never called training. It was just life. Watching. Tasting. Absorbing. An unconscious apprenticeship that would take decades to reveal its purpose.

Two traditions met in one woman’s hands. The Calabar sophistication from her mother. The Aganyin boldness from her grandmother.

In 1994, a Lagos newspaper dedicated a full page to the phenomenon: “Ewa Aganyin, From Togolese To Lagosians With Taste.” The women, the reporter wrote, “do not advertise nor call on buyers.” They didn’t need to. The food did the work.