Award-Winning Chef Kizi, also known as Bouffista, is the owner and founder of BOUFFISTA’s KITCHEN, Private Chef, Food Blogger, Travel Lover based in the Washington, DC area. By trade, she’s been a Procurement and Contracts Professional for the past 13 years. She was proudly born and raised in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire, with Sierra Leonean and Congolese (Brazzaville) origins. You can only imagine how cultivated her culinary senses are.
Her favorite childhood memories are restaurant visits on Sundays after church for Vietnamese food or road trips to Bassam (the beach) for local Ivorian dishes, fresh and grilled seafood. These were experiences that she always looked forward to when Sundays were approached: food and escaping to the beach.
Due to political turmoil and instability in Abidjan, Kizi moved to the United States , more specifically to the Silver Spring, Maryland in 2001 with her mother and siblings. She completed her last years of high school at Washington Christian Academy and pursued her undergraduate education in International Business at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland College Park. In 2010, she obtained her Masters in Business Administration from the University of Maryland University College.
Despite her move the United States, she did not lose her Sunday family tradition. Her love for the beach, food and discovering various culinary cuisines led to the birth of her food blog (originally known as CHIC~FOOD~SAVEUR) in 2011, to simply journal her foodie escapades locally and wherever she traveled to. It was truly a source of happiness and moreover of excitement as she shared her escapades with the world.
In addition to blogging, there was also a love for cooking and hosting friends and classmates during her junior and senior college years. The look of satisfaction on her family and friends’ faces after devouring her dishes, gave her a sense of satisfaction she could not explain. This sense of satisfaction grew into passion, which led to Bouffista’s Kitchen in 2015, a licensed Catering business in the state of Maryland as well as becoming a Certified Food Services Manager.
Over the past five years, Chef Kizi has shared her African heritage and culture through food beyond the state of Maryland. Her passion has taken her Utah, Colorado, Texas and Tennessee. She looks forward to share her dishes internationally as well.
Chef Kizi was recently featured on Good Morning Washington on WJLA-ABC 7 and in the Frederick News Post to share more about Bouffista’s Kitchen.
In June 2020, she was recognized by Ayoo Africa as one of the 2020 Top Ten D.C. Awardees in the culinary and hospitality category and also featured in The Frederick News Post (click images for more information).
Bouffista’s Kitchen offers dishes filled with love and with a great influence from her childhood in Cote d’Ivoire with the addition to some of her favorites from the American cuisine, taking you through a culinary experience that will leave you in awe.
For more information or if you would like to connect with Chef Kizi, click here.