Done! Dennis Ombachi turns balcony into Kenya’s culinary embassy
With more than 2.3 million TikTok followers and 1.4 million on Instagram, he's become Kenya's unlikely ambassador of gastrodiplomacy - using food as a bridge between cultures and nations.
On a modest Nairobi balcony overlooking the city's skyline, ex-rugby star Dennis Ombachi, better known as The Roaming Chef, is quietly reshaping the idea of diplomacy.
His tools are not treaties or speeches, but tongs, spice, and a signature exclamation that now defines his brand, "Done!"
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Once famed for scoring the try that took Kenya's rugby sevens team to the 2016 Olympics, Ombachi has traded stadiums for saucepans, transforming himself into one of Africa's most recognisable digital creators.
With more than 2.3 million TikTok followers and 1.4 million on Instagram, he's become Kenya's unlikely ambassador of gastrodiplomacy - using food as a bridge between cultures and nations.
His balcony has become an emblem of soft power.
Here, French and German ambassadors have flipped ugali and matumbo coleslaw in apron-clad diplomacy, while Tanzanian musician Alikiba recently joined for a session celebrating "music and flavour".
"Every dish had its own melody, every bite a verse," Ombachi wrote. "Whether rhythm or recipe, true art always brings people together."
The French envoy, Arnaud Suquet, praised Ombachi's cooking with a light-hearted Swahili phrase on X, 'Nilipika ugali bora kabisa!' ("I cooked the best ugali ever!"), after preparing spicy chicken chooza and kachumbari under Ombachi's watchful eye.
German Ambassador Sebastian Groth toasted barbecue ribs and muratina-infused pork, marking his country's Unity Day.
Beyond the charm, there's method. Ombachi's content is tight, cinematic, and distinctly Kenyan, part culinary tutorial, part social commentary.
His storytelling carries the cadence of global appeal but retains a distinctly African confidence.
Each collaboration is a subtle act of culinary diplomacy, highlighting Kenya's diversity while softening the edges of international relations through something as universal as food.
Gastrodiplomacy, long used by nations from Thailand to South Korea, has found a new frontier on Ombachi's balcony.
Kenya's flavours, once confined to domestic kitchens, are now reaching millions worldwide, one short video, one handshake, and one sizzling skillet at a time.
As Ombachi often says after a perfectly seared dish and a laugh shared across cultures, "Done!"
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