Five decades ago, Bulgaria stood far behind the Iron Curtain, under the heavy hand of yet another communist dictator, while Tanzania was taking its first post-colonial steps. The two countries were connected economically and, to some extent, culturally—especially since Tanzania’s first president, Julius Nyerere, was a committed socialist.

Bulgaria offered student programs to promising young people from its African partner states. That’s how my father traveled thousands of kilometers and ended up at the Technical University in the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna. By chance, my mother—an introverted yet open-minded woman, drawn to unconventional thinking and adventure—was studying at the same institution.

In communist Bulgaria, Western music was considered immoral, hard to find, or outright banned. But the Tanzanian students had modern cassette players, plenty of Boney M. and James Brown, and the authorities often turned a blind eye to their small musical “offenses.”

“The Tanzanians threw the best parties in the dorms, and I loved dancing to their music. That’s how I met your father,” my mother once told me.
“But Mom, I can’t imagine Dad dancing—why did you choose him?” I asked, surprised.
“Well… I usually danced with someone else, but your father was more persistent…”

And so, through the persistence of two people from different races, countries, and cultures, I came into existence—despite conservative relatives, conservative laws, and conservative societies.

Because of my background, tolerance has always been a basic standard for me. But if I’m honest, tolerance is like plain boiled rice: essential for human well-being, yet somewhat bland. Curiosity, the desire to experiment, and a love for the different, the exotic, and the unknown—these are the spices that give the dish its flavor.

The desire to reach into the unknown has pushed me to travel, to live in several different countries, and to follow the family tradition in my intimate life. That is also one of the reasons I started Athumani—a project that seeks to select the finest basic ingredients and generously season them with spicy sauces and exotic flavors.