The episode we kept postponing
….People are being served food and I politely decline. It is a point of discussion, I become the center of attraction and it actually gets annoying because I cannot just be normal and say I don’t wanna eat or I don’t eat meat… ” — Chidinma Ejiogu (Lushka)
“ She had more options when she became vegetarian when she started using her own recipes, than she did when it was just our regular maybe rice or going to a restaurant to try something new. She was no longer closed up, she could explore different dishes… ” — Ugonna Ejiogu (Mitya)
I wouldn’t be wrong if I said this was the time I really started podcasting and even took my scripting more seriously. This is not to say other episodes weren’t good enough but this episode carries weight and for some weird reasons this episode happened to be the most tedious to work on but still came out top-notch. I know this because of the analytics and engagement it got fee days after publishing on July 20th, 2021.
The idea for this episode was birthed after an Instagram Live session I had with Nigerian Vegan Chef and Food Blogger, Tomi Makanjuola a session where we discussed Is Vegan an African thing?. The initial idea was to invite another blogger to out some context well-established blogger for the episode the invite was sent, accepted, interview day was scheduled but we kept rescheduling and when I say rescheduling this happened consecutively I got frustrated and started looking for a way to salvage the episode.
Weeks after I concluded that the episode must happen. I remembered during one of the live sessions we had a year before then of a guest who featured on the live and spoke about having a vegetarian sister. Mitya and Lushka came to mind they both came on the live but Mitya was the guest. For the time I thought of this I mapped out the script and sent out invites the response was positive. The idea for the podcast changed from featuring one person to two persons.
I looked forward to speaking and getting divergent views on the plant-based lifestyle and seeing how it has impacted both parties. Lushka and Mitya came through in this amazing episode. It is one episode that remains the breaking point and an episode that did put the podcast on another pedestal that indeed blew my mind.
My Cookery Zone Podcast will look into other topical issues on the plant-based lifestyle and look for ways to discuss even further in future seasons.
Talk to you shortly!
Listen to episode four