Chelsea’s Adeboye Adebimpe Grandmother’s Cooking Inspired Me

Can we get to know you?
My name is Mr. Samuel Omosomofa. I am from Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State. Growing up, I attended Bishop Towel Primary School, Warri. From there, I moved Urobho College, Effurun for my post primary education. It was at the Urobho College that I sat and passed my West African Examinations Council (WAEC). I did not proceed to higher institution immediately; however, after a brief interlude, I went to LANS Institute of Catering and Hotel Management, Onitsha, Anambra State. After a
two year programme, I obtained National Diploma in Catering.

How long have you been in this chef business?
I have been in the business in the last 15 years. Immediately after I left Catering school, I joined a brewing company located in Ondo state called Sunshine Bottling Company. The brewery are the makers of Sunrise
Minerals, but it has been a long time and I don’t know if they are still in existence. 
 

What was the attraction that made you to be a chef?
I can say that it was the passion I have for preparing great meals. While growing up, I was under my grandmother’s care. It was my grandmother that brought me up. Her cooking was near perfect that each time she cooks, all my friends and our neighbors do come around to partake in the meal. So, from then I picked interest. We have what we call in my place, Combined fishing. Each time we come for this “Combined fishing” people from different works of life will come from various places from the town to the
Bush to bail off pound. Not the modernized one where they train fish. This one is the natural one. Our forefathers make them and prepare them. So, when we extract the water, you’ll see plenty fish and we will harvest the fish. Then we are nominated to cook and prepare the fish for the crowd to eat. It was like a local competition, and we always come out first. So, from there I began to develop interest in cooking. 

Will you say that becoming a chef was, for you, a fulfilment of life
ambition?
Yes. I have always wanted to work in the hospitality industry. Thus, when the opportunity came for me through a recruitment process at Transcorp Hilton, I jumped at it. I was lucky to be among those that were engaged by the hotel. From there, my passion translated to reality and I can tell you that there have been no regrets. Since then, l have worked in some places, but to be precise, this is the fourth place I am working.  

So, what is your specialty, continental or African?
I specialize in three areas namely Continental, African cuisines and Pastry. 

How did you pick the African cuisines and in which can you boldly beat those that the dish the cuisines are indigenous to?
It will surprise you to learn that Nkwobi, which we normally display in our Nigeria nights, I can do it better than those people that introduce it, and I have impacted the knowledge to so many of my staff here. As the Executive chef, I am not always directly involved in the preparation of meals. We delegate people and, in the process, we do trainings repeatedly. After the trainings we find out that there are some staff who are good in some areas and such staff are selected and deployed accordingly. I only feature staff in their area of competence.  When I find out that some staff are good in given areas, I deploy them there they do their job, and it comes out well. Nkwobi is just an example, I can do extremely well in other native meals like Ogbono, Egusi and Oha soups. All these are from the Eastern part of the country. I also hold my grounds in soups like Edikaikong Afang and other soups native to Nigeria. 

Beyond the formal education that you had in your Catering and hotel Management; did you go to an informal setting to learn a particular cuisine?
As part of my desire to be a quality chef with enough knowledge and expertise in African dishes, I travelled to Etinan in Akwa Ibom, to learn how to prepare afang soup which is one of their major delicacies. I spent time there to learn how to prepare the soup. I can proudly say that and the person
who taught me gave me the best. So, I can beat even the natives in their game as far as preparing the delicacy is concerned.

Have you had any experience where you are dismissed and looked down
upon because you are a chef?
I personally do not believe that any job is common. As a person I set a standard for myself, in all the places I have worked. So even if such cases occur, I quickly change their perception. When I came to Chelsea hotels newly, there were such cases like, your job is just to cook the food, do not bother how the food is served. But I told them no. The job of a chef is beyond just cooking the food, you are to give account of everything that was used to prepare the food and to know how the food is shared, whether or not the guest enjoyed the food or not.  It is your job to know. So as time goes on, they began to understand that yes, it’s true, the job of a chef is not just to cook the food like they believed, but it goes beyond that. I want to say generally that chef business in Nigeria is doing well now because, people are
beginning to understand that it is not an easy job. It is a job that one should be proud of. I have been privileged to see a lot of prominent people in the society who are willing to learn the trade as a chef for their personal wellbeing.   

What is the level of cooperation you get from your staff and the entire
management?
I have quality cooperation from the management and my colleagues. We all have as our main goal, that is, the satisfaction of the yearnings of all our guests. Here, we listen to the slightest issues raised by guests and move to take the necessary measures to correct any lapses. We do not take guests complaints lightly. We have a documentation for guest’s complaints, to know what a guest is complaining about, and put all these into consideration. And thereafter give feedback to every complaint laid by our guest, reaching out to them and telling them to try us again to see if we have improved. 

As a chef, do you take your cooking skills home?
Yes, I do that but it is once in a long while. It is usually on special occasions. My daughter is also there she is my mumu button (laughs). Once in a while she make special request and, in a jiffy, I attend to her requests. Anytime she makes a choice of what to eat like sandwich, I will quickly prepare for it, and get it on her table.  

Do you have an association where you regulate your staff, so that quacks
won’t come and spoil the system for you?

Yes, we have a very strong association, but I am yet to be a strong member, because if you are a member of a particular club and you are not attending regularly, then you’re not a member. But notwithstanding, I was one of the people that helped form such club in Abuja here, but after the exit of some of us, separations, some travelled out of Abuja here because of the call of duty, and since then we have not been having regular meetings. So, we have such clubs or associations here, where we are able to dish out the quack one’s from the very good ones, because many people these days, parade themselves as
chefs. I’ve seen people parade themselves as good chefs, but within a short while, they are easily detected and known not to be a chef. 

How do you manage your client with health challenges?
We do have guests with peculiar dietary needs and we strive to ensure that they eat right while staying with us. We do have some ulcer or diabetic guests as well as some that are allergic to some food condiments. We do our best to ensure that they keep to the instructions given to them by their medical doctors or nutritionists.  That does not mean that we are taking the place of medical experts on what to eat and what not to eat while the guest is with us. People should follow doctors’ prescriptions, who are known as dieticians. They can recommend food for you because it is their area of specialization. But as an experienced chef, on one or two occasions, I have prescribed food for diabetic patients and they eat and are okay and doing well. 

Within your circle of colleagues what alias have you been given in your
line of duty?
In my case, like my colleagues and some other staff, gave me Yala-yala which means quick-quick in Lebanese (laughs). And you know our job has to do with timing, so we must hurry up and be time conscious. So, they take it as my name. In my own case, if you are privileged to be with me while at
work and you hear me shout Yala-yala, it will ginger you up to give your best.  You know, the production unit or section is like a war front and like a war front soldiers sing war songs to motivate them to action. So that is how that my word “Yala” came about. So, at that time when you hear “Yala-yala,
move it, move it.” You’ll see everybody putting in their best to work. 

How do you relax when you’re not in the kitchen?
I just sit and relax over a glass of drink. I also read books because I love reading books in order to stay in touch with happenings around me and also to update my knowledge which helps me to improve on my job. If it is at my work place, I usually gather at a table and relax with my other colleagues
(chefs). We gather and relax over drinks.

If you had not been a chef, what other position would have attracted you?
My second passion is to be an electrical engineer.  I actually went for it. I studied electrical engineering at the Yaba College of Technology and I read
up to national diploma. It was during our Internship at a company in Ogun state and there was this young man who was my friend and a fellow intern. He mistakenly bridged a phase and there was instant explosion that tore him into pieces. So that experience alone scared me. Otherwise, my second
choice of field of life would have been in electrical. When that incident occurred, which I will never forget in a hurry, I picked up this profession in the hospitality industry.

What future do you see for one, taking a career in the food industry and
wanting to become a chef?
The future is very broad and very bright. Everybody is now appreciating the importance of having quality meals. I think the most trending issue in social life now is food. Even businessmen that are investing, everybody is thinking of hospitality, and they all are thinking along that line. There is great hope for
anyone who is aspiring to be a chef. The only thing I will advise is for such person to learn the rudiments first. They should acquire the basic knowledge by attending the basic schools were catering and hotel management are taught. Before graduation, the person will be sent to places like hotels, where they will acquire practical experience which will assist them on the job well. So, I believe that there’s a bright future for anyone aspiring to be a chef. 

Have you had a situation where some of your clients will invite you to do a
private job for them?
Yes, like as I am now, a professional chef, I cannot say it is only Chelsea Hotels that I am exhibiting my experience, but I will not let such private jobs clash with my official duties.  Like during weekends, I use to have events with other people, which they will invite me and I will do one or two things
in my private capacity. 

What’s your parting advice to the society?
Well, one thing I always tell myself and my family is that the way a child is brought up matters a lot. As parents, we owe our children the duty of proper upbringing.  There is need for proper cohesion in the family in order for the children to properly guided. Both parents should devise a means of ensuring
either of them is always around the children most of the time so that it will be easy to detect when the children begin to go astray and effect the necessary corrections early. The best thing parents can do for a child, is not to encourage that child in a flamboyant life, but to bring up that child in the fear of God. If you are a Christian or a Muslim, you should make sure you impact the attributes of that religion into your child, in the best manner you can.
Then after that, as the child is growing, you should be able to let the child know that money is not everything. I have seen a very rich man, but he is not enjoying the things of life as he ought to have enjoyed. So, you find out that in life, money is not everything. So that is why I believe that the upbringing
of every child, matters a lot. Parents have larger role to play in the upbringing of their children, so they do not see money no matter how it is acquired as the ultimate goal in life. People should be contented with the little they have achieved in a very descent and honest manner. As our parents taught us, good name is better than anything else in the world.