Baltimore chef tries to cook his way to the top

By Ruth Ogunsanwo
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

A Baltimore resident is hoping you’ll vote for him as your “Favorite Chef” in an online competition with a grand prize of $50,000.

“I want to be able to tell my mom not to worry about money ever again,” said Olamiposi Lawal, 26. “My future kids are my aspiration. I don’t want them to go through the same struggles I did.”

Favorite Chef is a worldwide competition that can be found online at http://favchef.com. The chef with the most votes will be Favorite Chef 2021 and featured in Bon Appétit magazine. And they will take home the coveted prize check. 

Lawal was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States in 2015. While in high school in Nigeria, he enticed his friends with his cooking. He would visit the market to search for produce and ingredients, gather supplies from the school kitchen, and then head to his room to cook for his “buddies,” he said.

They started calling him “Eba Posi,” which means, “garri (cassava) is plenty.” Since then, all he ever wanted was to cook.

“He is always so focused when working, as he wants to give his customers the best service they deserve,” said Dolapo Lawal, 31, Olamiposi’s brother.

In the United States, Lawal first studied in Community College of Baltimore County, where he struggled to find a purpose. He ended up changing his major three times, from business to accounting to cyber security, while working as a line cook at a Marriott hotel.

One day at work, he spoke to a manager who told him she had just graduated from the culinary school at Stratford University. Later that same day, he called the school and asked to register. That was the moment, he said, that he decided that cooking was going to be his career.

In 2019, he officially started his own business using his high school nickname as inspiration: “Posi’s kitchen.” In the Yoruba language, the name Posi means plenty, which describes the quantity of food he likes to serve his customers. It also describes how motivated he is.

“He has always been a go getter,” said Olamide Adesina, 19, a close friend. “He is very respectful, and he chooses to not let people’s validation stop him from doing what he needs to do in order to win.”

To vote for Lawal you can visit, https://favchef.com/2021/olamiposi-lawal