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24 Mar 2026
The Story He Serves: Ayo Balogun on Food, Memory, and Finding His Way
As a kid, Ayo Balogun didn’t go into the kitchen for the food—he went for the stories. The cooks had lived lives he couldn’t imagine, and he wanted one of his own.
In this episode, we sit down with Ayo Balogun of Dept of Culture and Radio Kwara. We talk about his journey from his grandmother’s kitchen in Nigeria to his James Beard–nominated restaurant in Brooklyn—and the moments that shaped him along the way.
Read more about what we ate!
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EPISODE CREDITS
Produced & Edited by Diane Bezucha
Music
“Fela Kuti | Afrobeat Instrumental | Burna Boy-type Beat” by Amen Music
“Traipsing through the Country” by GregFellman
Old School West Coast type beat x 90s hip hop instrumental 'Ridin'
“Nigerian Party” by u_98673jp944
“Cooking Food Music” by BackgroundMusicForVideos
“City Limits” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Albany, NY
“Nigeria Pulse” by u_98673jp944
“Too Good For Punk (positive funk)” by Kulakovka
“African Background Music (Tribal Kongo Nigeria Tanzania)” by BackgroundMusicForVideos
“Cast in Wicker” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Aeronaut
“Ethiopian Worldbeat” by soundoffreedom
“Funk” by The_Mountain
“Grey Grey Joe” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album TinyTiny Trio
“Coronea” by Blue Dot Sessions from the album Marisala
10 Mar 2026
Five Dollars and a Dream: The Story of Buka
When Lookman Afolayan came to the U.S., the only thing bigger than his dreams was the flavor in his goat pepper soup. He risked it all to build a Nigerian restaurant he could be proud of.
In this episode, I sit down with Lookman and Abiodun Afolayan, owners of Buka. As I sweat my way through a bowl of pepper soup, we talk about Nigerian food, family, and what it takes to build a restaurant from the ground up.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
16 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 30 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
40
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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