Meet Nigeria's fully-veiled cooking star
Sherifah Yunus Olokodana is a Nigerian cooking sensation. She's become a go-to chef for celebrities, with Nollywood's finest joining her in her studio kitchen to cook sizzling dishes and she's challenging stereotypes about cooking on TV while wearing her niqab.
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00:00 My name is Sharifa Yunus Olukodano.
00:02 I call myself a culinary artist.
00:05 Nigerian chef Sharifa Yunus is taking Instagram by storm.
00:09 The culinary starlet hosts an online cooking show
00:12 with some of the hottest celebs in Nollywood.
00:15 But she's had to overcome stigma and stereotypes
00:17 on her road to social media fame.
00:19 I've had very negative interactions with non-Muslims,
00:28 sometimes even with Muslims because of the way I am dressed,
00:31 wearing the niqab.
00:32 When you're dressed in the niqab, you are not educated.
00:35 When you're dressed in the niqab,
00:37 you're very poor and you're needy.
00:40 So there are lots of misconceptions and whatever
00:45 bound around wearing the face veil.
00:48 10 years ago, she launched her own brand
00:50 of home-mixed seasonings,
00:51 with an eye towards minimising the amount of sodium
00:54 in the Nigerian diet.
00:56 I actually innovated the natural seasoning brand in Nigeria,
01:00 the niche where we season 100% natural, no MSG.
01:05 Despite the success of her Lagos-based brand,
01:08 dubbed Sherry Mama's Delight,
01:10 Sharifa was still reluctant to show her face,
01:12 or rather to show the veil that covers it.
01:15 I was worried that my customers would,
01:17 when they know who is behind the brand,
01:19 they wouldn't want to buy from me.
01:20 Young Muslim girls feel that because of the way
01:23 they are dressed, they have less opportunities
01:25 in the society, and it meant that they being hijabis,
01:29 they cannot get financial independence
01:33 because of how they are dressed.
01:34 So I wanted to show the young girls
01:36 that you can absolutely work from home.
01:38 Her brand's popularity exploded,
01:42 snowballing into a self-produced cooking show,
01:44 complete with its own state-of-the-art studio kitchen.
01:47 I'll be making some burger with some nice sauce
01:54 as my main dish, my side dish is I'm making
01:56 a whole chicken roast, and for desserts,
01:59 we even have the cake already.
02:01 So I'm going to lay this down
02:03 as we get ready to welcome our guests.
02:05 Today's guest is Yoruba language film actress Aduni Ade,
02:11 who's excited to try what's on the menu.
02:13 How does it taste?
02:24 - Nice. - This is healthy.
02:25 - Great. - Too good.
02:27 Just to watch her cook, covered up,
02:33 it's very inspiring, it's just, it's blown my mind.
02:38 I have never come close to contact with someone
02:41 who covers her face fully with a veil,
02:44 and boy, oh boy, her food is delicious.
02:53 Surprisingly, since I came out
02:55 to show the face behind the brand,
02:56 I have young girls, married women, stay-at-home moms
03:00 who are not Muslim, who continually tell me
03:02 that I gave them the ginger to do more,
03:06 and I get many of them who continue to say
03:09 that you're my role model.
03:11 From rubbing shoulders with celebrities
03:13 to creating mouth-watering Instagram-worthy dishes,
03:16 perhaps Sharifa Yunus' most effective ingredient
03:19 is her determination to smash boundaries.
03:22 (upbeat music)
03:24 (upbeat music)