Growing up in Ghana, making homemade food from scratch has become second nature to 20-year-old Mary Kukua Anderson, who learned how to cook from a young age. After moving hundreds of miles away to start a new life in Pontypridd however, she found that there were hardly any restaurants or takeaways that offered African food like back home.
Mary moved to Wales in 2021 to study for a business degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University. And after having her son, the graduate wanted to find a flexible way of working that would allow her to pursue her passion for cooking and working with food.
Although she is not yet at a stage where she can open a restaurant there, Mary has now started selling takeaway African dishes from her own home and says she works “very hard” to keep it as organised as any other food establishment’s kitchen. For the latest Pontypridd news, sign up to our newsletter here
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Her business is called Ronen's African Kitchen, which she named after her 10-month-old baby boy, Ronen, who she often cooks with in her home kitchen on her back in a baby sling. Mary's kitchen is always full of life, with orders rolling in after lunch time and into the evening.
Dishes take her around an hour to perfect, Mary told WalesOnline. She said: "Some take longer than others but a lot of them is a process which requires lots of food preparation."
As well as making all of the authentic dishes herself on a daily basis, Mary is also up bright and early each day to look after her 10-month-old. She noted: "It does take up time but I enjoy it."
Reflecting on what moving from Ghana to Pontypridd was like, Mary noted: "It is not as social here. There is more of a community in Ghana, and more people are keen to chat but here it is a bit different.
"Less people want to stop and talk to you as much, and people are a bit more isolated. I have found that I haven't met many people here yet, being a young mum with a baby and running a business as well, as it can be a bit isolating but cooking is something that will always feel like home."
So far, her food has been going down a treat. Lots of her Facebook posts have been met with a buzz of excitement, and Mary has also been getting a great sense of satisfaction from people enjoying her cooking, as it is such a big part of her identity. She said: “Cooking is very personal to me and I realised that apart from Cardiff, there's very few African food places around, and none at all around really.
“And cooking for friends, they all tell me that they really enjoy the food, and different people who tried the food I made have really enjoyed it, so I decided to turn it into a business. I cook all the African foods that are well-known to people here, and trying to cook all the food that you would ask for. "
“I would say back in Africa you must learn how to cook. Those skills I learned almost as a duty but I was surprised when I came here, people do not always know how to cook or learn to cook to a really high standard.
“I kind of feel like at home it is a responsibility and here it is seen as a duty. We don't really see it as something important - it’s something you need to do in order to serve your family but coming here that responsibility is what is now fetching me revenue so cooking has really impacted me and it’s what I am enjoying." Want less ads? Download WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android.
Mary's food is available to order through Deliveroo, under her business name Ronen's African Kitchen. Her dishes include jollof rice (£7.50), which you can request extra spicy if you'd like and waake - a dish made with rice and peas eaten with tomato stew and spicy sauce (£7.50). She also offers swallows (a starchy, dough-like dish made of cooked starchy vegetables or grains) including with pounded yam (£2), semolina (£2) or Ghanaian fufu (£4).
Considering her favourite dishes, Mary said: "I love jollof rice because it cooked with maximum attention- a little mistake would spoil the whole dish, and Egushi is probably the most popular, is made with Mellon seeds and is vegetarian friendly."
Mary learned to cook in Africa, picking up skills from helping her family in the kitchen, and since setting up the takeaway as a business venture, she has also used YouTube to look up additional recipes that are popular. She said: “Now later in life I need to establish myself and cooking has helped me do that because it’s one of those skills I’ve always had.”
Although Mary wants to open up her own restaurant in south Wales one day, she says she has been managing to keep on top of everything easily from her home kitchen, and people can order food from Deliveroo, or customers can pick up their orders from her home. She said: "It's very well organised for me here, and I've really enjoyed running it all so far so just hope more people can find me as it's just a case of getting word out there now."
The meals can be collected from Mary's home, or can be delivered to your door, and to find out more about Mary's business, you can visit her Facebook page here.
