Upon moving to the United States, Bunmi's excitement for African cuisine was quickly dashed when she dined out at an African Restaurant in Georgetown, DC. The meal was not authentic or delicious. She realized that in order to enjoy the true flavors of Africa, she would have to prepare the dishes herself.

African food is not easy to make. In Africa, foods are prepared using only the freshest ingredients bought from the local market. A mortar and pestle is required to grind up the spices. Fresh vegetables have to be cut and blended to make the sauces.

Bunmi began making variations of her family's sauce for special occasions and soon found herself inundated with requests to make more jars of her Zesty sauce.

To accommodate her friends' special dietary requirements, she modified the recipe without sacrificing the taste. For example, many Americans didn't like the flavor or texture of palm oil, so Bunmi chose to use olive oil instead.

Bunmi also created a vegetable stock to make the sauce vegan-friendly and replaced all the "off-the-shelf" ingredients with her own natural substitutes to create a sauce that looked and tasted like the authentic African sauces she grew up with.

It took months of experimentation, but Bunmi's dedication to creating a high-quality, all-natural sauce paid off, and Bunmi Zesty Foods was born.