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‘I made these sauces to be alive’
When Grace Ekell first arrived in Bristol from Cameroon, she used to take a homemade bottle of hot sauce out with her to friends’ houses and restaurants to provide the spice she was accustomed to in her home country.
Fast forward two decades and the former dancer and choreographer now has a range of hot sauces that she is relaunching under a new name.
Makossa is a Cameroonian popular music style and simply means ‘dance’, with three different sauces so far ranging in temperature from mild to hot, with Grace saying that “the bursts of flavours are like a combination of dance moves”.
is needed now More than ever
Grace, who lives in Lockleaze, successfully fought breast cancer and wants to use any profits that she makes from her relaunched sauce range to support cancer awareness projects in Cameroon, where cancer is seen by many people as a curse.
“During my cancer my focus shifted, I wanted to do what I was more passionate about, to be alive and to be healthy,” Grace said.
“It is food that is good for my body. Food played a massive role in helping me get better.”
All of Grace’s Makossa chilli sauces are made in her kitchen at home in Lockleaze using Scotch bonnet chillies to create a healthy hot sauce with no sugar, preservatives or colouring.
Grace is soon launching a crowdfunding campaign to enable her to produce more sauces and help distribute them, and also to help promote ways to use food for better health.
She added: “My daughter told me that I am happiest when I cook. There’s always a window for my cancer to come back. I have a responsibility to all people to show that you can survive from this illness.”
Read more: Cancer survivor uses time in remission to develop new chilli sauce range
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