My name is Mariama. I was named after my grandmother, but for as long as I can remember everyone has called me Maria.
I speak three languages – Krio, Mende and English – and I live in Kent with my family. I have many fond childhood memories of growing up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, all of which have influenced my recipes.
I started my food business in 2017, creating delicious African food for dinner parties, weddings and corporate events. Back then, it was called Maria Bradford Kitchen, but my fellow Sierra Leoneans would describe my dishes as ‘fancy’. They would say in Krio, ‘Dis na Shwen Shwen’, which, in English, is an exclamation along the lines of, ‘This is fancy food!’
So, I decided to rename it. [Sh•wen Sh•wen] Adjective, derived from the Krio word for ‘fancy’.
I am really proud that Shwen Shwen is at the forefront of Sierra Leonean-inspired fine-dining experiences. Africa is the final frontier of food, and whether we are using utensils or eating with our hands, our dishes can be prepared and consumed in a fine-dining environment. Dining etiquette in Africa's Atlantic Coast cultures may well be very different to that in Europe, but we too have our rules and traditions that go way back.
The first human settlements in West Africa date back to 4 000 BCE, and the roots of traditional Sierra Leonean food certainly reach this far too; many of the indigenous vegetables and spices that define our food – rice, yam, plantain, cassava and the like – all existed there thousands of years ago. The traditional dishes I cook (especially the plasas dishes, leafy green sauces) are all Sierra Leonean classics, and unapologetically time-consuming to prepare and cook.
Freetown has a unique history and fascinating story when it comes to
