MARIA BRADFORD'S RES KANYAH

A food writer from Sierra Leone, Maria specialises in Afro-fusion dishes. Here, she shares how the food of her youth shapes her cooking today, and the sweet-savoury snack that her grandmother would make for her

- TONY NAYLOR

As a child in Sierra Leone, Maria Bradford would break out her mum's ingredients and "force-feed friends". She explains that, "I've been cooking since I can remember. It's always been a love of mine." It was not until 2017, however, that this passion previously expressed in cooking for family weddings or for events at her husband's company - became a profession. After completing a professional cookery course at Leiths, Maria, now 41, left her work in accountancy and launched herself into private catering, cookery classes, and selling her own drinks and chilli sauces, focusing on popularising food from Sierra Leone, "a tiny country of big flavours".

Soon, fans on social media were tagging Maria's cooking, a mix of traditional and modern Afro-fusion' dishes, as #shwenshwen (meaning 'fancy' in the Krio language). Maria rebranded her Kent-based business and Shwen Shwen's mission to promote the "creative versatility" of African ingredients has flown. Next year, Quadrille will publish Maria's debut cookbook, Sweet Salone, a highly personal celebration, says Maria, of the "culture and people of this beautiful country. That is the Sierra Leone I want people to see."

"I had a really happy childhood growing up in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. My mum, a primary school teacher, has four children, and we all had responsibilities at home," Maria explains.