My name is Belitha. I come from Congo, DRC. I was born in the capital called Kinshasa. I studied communications at university. I speak Lingala and French and I have been learning English since I arrived in the UK five years ago. I live alone and my whole family is in Congo. I joined Migrateful to meet new people, improve my English and share dishes from my country. I learned to cook when I was young by watching my mum when she cooked for my family.

My aunty Madeleine, who we called Mado, had a restaurant in Kinshasa. I learned from her how to make sure the dishes are perfectly seasoned. She passed away and I think of her often when I cook the recipes she taught me. I love to cook and feed people. I like to create new recipes and try new ingredients from my country like cassava leaves, fumbua and green beans from Goma. My favourite foods to cook are fish and all kinds of meat and vegetables because I believe they prevent illness. In my country, we say “la guérison est dans l’assiette” which means “healing is on the plate”.