{"id":9374,"date":"2023-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/menu\/black-in-the-kitchen-resilience-meets-passion-at-sasilka-shallangwas-sk-cookks\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T13:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:18:28","slug":"black-in-the-kitchen-resilience-meets-passion-at-sasilka-shallangwas-sk-cookks","status":"publish","type":"menu","link":"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/fr\/menu\/black-in-the-kitchen-resilience-meets-passion-at-sasilka-shallangwas-sk-cookks\/","title":{"rendered":"Black in the Kitchen: Resilience Meets Passion at Sasilka Shallangwa\u2019s SK Cookks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:25% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/The-Re-Seasoning-Coalition-Logo-web-1024x227.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11656 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-text-color has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#132461\"><strong>The Re-Seasoning Coalition is dedicated to increasing the representation of Black Canadians in foodservice through research, programming and sharing real stories like Sasilka\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Elle Asiedu, Co-founder, The Re-Seasoning Coalition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When restaurateur Sasilka Shallangwa talks about her beginnings in the food industry, the story inevitably comes back to Lagos, Nigeria where her mother owned a chain of successful restaurants. She believes it\u2019s city where you can find everything and be anything. But it\u2019s also a place where resilience is required to survive. It\u2019s no surprise then, that Shallangwa\u2019s restaurant, SK Cookks (the S stands for <em>santi<\/em>, meaning food coma in Hausa and the K for kitchen), is her third business in Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color\" style=\"color:#132461\">A NEW WORLD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sasilka\u2019s Canadian food story began when she immigrated to Canada from Nigeria as a teen, seeking better educational opportunities. Although she had travelled extensively throughout Europe and the United States\u2014often finding herself in a sea of non-Black faces\u2014Shallangwa was shocked when students at her international boarding school audibly expressed their disgust at the Nigerian food served to herself and her peers one lunch period. \u201cThey turned up their noses at the smell of our food and someone even threw a banana while we were eating,\u201d she remembers sadly. \u201cWe were paying so much to attend this school, but we and our culture weren\u2019t respected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While enrolled at York University, Shallangwa cooked for homesick friends and colleagues, thinking little of the endeavour until one friend asked her to whip up an especially expensive dish. It would be <em>ayamase<\/em> stew, also known as \u201cDesigner Stew\u201d, that would open the door to her taking catering and meal prep seriously.\u201c A friend asked how much it would cost to make him some and I didn\u2019t have an answer, so I said I\u2019d make it for free,\u201d she remembers, laughing at her approach. \u201cBut he insisted on paying, so I bought everything and told him he owed $60. He paid, and a lightbulb went off in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color\" style=\"color:#132461\">BRINGING LAGOS TO TORONTO <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That experience changed the way the second-generation entrepreneur thought about her place in Canadian society. She realized there was a gap she could fill without needing to water down her culture. \u201cAt the time and even today, there are lots of Nigerian Millennials who have immigrated and are looking for a taste from home,\u201d Shallangwa explains, summarizing her business plan. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a stigma associated with Nigerian restaurants, so I wanted to retell that story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, she went from feeding friends and Instagram followers to opening the first iteration of SK Cookks in Etobicoke, ON. Not only did it break the mold, it also became a place for West African immigrant and first-generation communities to come together. Three years later, Shallangwa relocated to downtown Toronto where the aim was to ensure foodies from across the globe had a chance to taste all that her homeland had to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"11988\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-06-at-11.51.34-AM-1024x820.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11988\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"11989\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-06-at-11.51.48-AM-1024x675.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11989\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-id=\"11990\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-06-at-11.51.57-AM-1024x857.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11990\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like many in foodservice, SK Cookks struggled with labour shortages during the pandemic, but has instituted a series of incentives to keep employees coming back. In addition to mostly hiring people of colour and new immigrants, her team keeps retention rates high through Employee of the Month initiatives (which give recipients a raise) and by covering transportation costs so commuters find it easier to make the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the success of the restaurant and its popularity in the neighbourhood, there are still negative experiences that remind Shallangwa of the importance of never giving up. \u201cRecently we found out that we\u2019re being charged rent 30% higher than anyone else on the strip, but we aren\u2019t letting our anger drive our decision-making. We have to move forward,\u201d she says with conviction. \u201cSeeing the progress I\u2019ve made with the restaurant makes me hopeful about the future. I try to keep counting my blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SK-Cookks-Exterior-web-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11987\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-background\" style=\"background-color:#132461;color:#132461\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-center\" style=\"grid-template-columns:20% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.restaurantscanada.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SK-Cookks-Logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11986 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#132461\"><strong>SK Cookss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>133 Jefferson Avenue, <\/strong><br><strong>Toronto, ON&nbsp; M6K 3E4<br>Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/skcookks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@skcookks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9380,"template":"","menu_author":[471],"menu-category":[491],"menu-tag":[486,487,498,490],"class_list":["post-9374","menu","type-menu","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","menu_author-menu-magazine","menu-category-leadership","menu-tag-back-of-house","menu-tag-chef","menu-tag-deia","menu-tag-women-in-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - 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