Chef Abby: Ghana’s Flavor Ambassador and Creator of Culinary Unity

Abena Amoakoa Sintim-Aboagye, known to her growing audience as Chef Abby, makes cooking feel like a gentle conversation. She speaks without pretense. When she says “Food is my language. Through it, I tell stories, honor my roots, and invite the world to taste Ghana,” she means exactly that.

From Engineer to “African Food Tourist”

Chef Abby did not begin her career in a kitchen. She trained as an engineer in construction management, a serious and logical field. Somewhere inside her, though, a passion simmered. She calls herself an “African Food Tourist.” That captures it well as she travels with a spoon, a camera, and curiosity. She travels not in body every time but in taste and memory.

In college or after, during those pandemic lockdowns, she faced long hours indoors. She chose to chase recipes instead of boredom. That simple switch, from engineer to cooking stories, set her on a path few imagined.

Serving Ghana on a Global Plate

Her TikTok account, @Chefabbys, now counts more than 1.7 million followers. That means more than a million people wake up to her vibrant scenes of waakye, jollof, banku or a stew bubble with drama.

In June 2025, Chef Abby represented Ghana at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. She stood on global panels, shared recipes, and held meet-and-greets. She showed that Ghanaian cooking can be part of a serious creative conversation.

Then in July 2025, she earned a spot in TIME’s “100 Most Influential Creators”, a list full of heavyweights, comedians, adventurers, musicians, hosts. Through her kitchen camera, she joined their company.

Behind the Camera: Why She Cooks

She speaks plainly and from the heart. “Every ingredient has meaning. Every method carries memory. When you cook a country’s traditional food, you learn its values, its struggles, and its soul.” That quote, anchored in respect, sits at the heart of her work. It reminds her audience that cooking is not just about taste. It is storytelling about community.

She said this during an interview with TIME. It echoes the quiet force of her message. We understand that a pinch of chili can hold history. A mixing bowl can hold identity.

Cooking with Unity: From Kitchen to Nation

In June, when the Mayor of London visited Accra, Chef Abby taught him how to blend “pepper, ginger, and onions”, the three core flavors, using an asanka (a mortar and pestle made of clay). The mayor later called it “an honoured moment” and noted how Ghanaian culinary traditions can bridge diplomacy and culture.

So consider this: a woman in an ordinary kitchen, filming a recipe video, becomes a kind of cultural diplomat. Her kitchen becomes a chamber of unity. Her recipes show that food takes us beyond tribes and borders. It invites a nation to taste itself, and reminds the world Ghana has a seat at the table.

A Journey of Small Joys and Big Wins

Her story reads like good comfort food. She began in her kitchen. She filmed herself cooking. She shared simple, joyful clips. She kept at it. Then the digital world noticed. Clubs of followers formed. Recognition followed: TikTok’s Global Discover List, Cannes panels, TIME’s list.

She did not chase fame. She followed a passion. The result is both charming and inspiring.

Lessons for Other Creators

What can other creators learn from Chef Abby?

1. Be real about what matters. She speaks without jargon. She speaks from what she knows. That wins trust.
2. Cook with your culture. You are not just posting a recipe. You share heritage and memory.
3. Start small. Abby began in her kitchen during lockdown. She had no global plan. Just curiosity, consistency, and care.
4. Let small stories grow. A clip about waakye can become a panel invitation. A cooking demonstration with the London mayor can happen when your message is true.
5. Understand unity. Food belongs to all of us. When she blends spices, she also bridges borders. She reminds us Ghana is one table.

A Cheeky Bit of Ghanaian Humor

You know that feeling when your grandma says “Don’t waste the soup”? Chef Abby gets that too. She pans her camera over waakye, just simmering with plantain, before saying something like, “If this plate could talk, it’d say ‘Feed the nation’.” And it does, in a way. That subtle Ghanaian humor, the nod, the wink, the respect for food, it connects.

She cooks kenkey, and we nod, “Yes, the hand-stirred magic.” She cooks banku and tilts her head: “Still the king of slippery buns.” But she does it with respect. And simple jokes.

Wrapping Up: Our Voice and Our Soil

Chef Abby stands in a kitchen that has no walls. Her work reminds us that creativity grows from what we know. She built a global stage by serving belated recipes in lockdown, by telling our story through food.

Her journey can teach us to listen to what we know, to record what we love, to share what feeds us, and by doing that to craft unity, in country, online, and across borders.

Her story is about our soil, our roots, our laughter, and our hunger for connection. She is a reminder that a simple plate can hold our future.