Michael Onalimi grew up surrounded by food, colour, smells and spices in the bustling marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria – a long way from Mountmellick.
However, since settling in the Laois town over 25 years ago, Michael’s passion for food has followed him across continents and, in 2015, he turned his love for flavour into a business,
Jungle Food Company was born with the intention of creating Ireland’s first African-inspired sauces, Flavour Safari.
Michael explains: “I looked into the market. There were Indian sauces, Chinese, Caribbean, and Italian, but nothing really African. That was a light bulb moment for me. I said, okay, I’ll come up with something new. There are hot sauces everywhere, but this is different. This gives you flavour before the heat and can be used for pasta, pizzas, rice, burgers or as a dipping sauce.”
Michael describes his sauces as a fusion between local Irish ingredients – tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and spinach – and African spices. “I spent a lot of time thinking about a name,” says Michael, “and Flavour Safari takes you on a journey.
“People who don’t have the chance to visit Nigeria, for example, can travel with the food.”
Michael is clearly comfortable in the kitchen, moving with both speed and ease as he clears surfaces and checks temperatures. As he stirs two big cauldrons of steaming hot sauce, he reflects on his deep connection with cooking. “I enjoy food. Food is what I love. Whenever there’s a family event, everybody comes around – they’re coming for the food as well [as the event].”
He pauses to season the sauces with African spices. “What I’m using here is African bird’s eye chilli [also known as peri-peri],” Michael explains, as he sprinkles the mixture into the bubbling red liquid, continuing to stir rhythmically. “I import my spices. It goes through the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. It gets stopped in customs, they check it, send it back to me. That’s how it works.”
SuperValu’s Food Academy programme gave Michael his first big break. “With a lot of food programmes, you have to be established already,” he explains. “But SuperValu takes local food producers and grows with you. I was one of the first people who did it in 2015.
“I was there with my little jar of sauce and they liked my product. In three months, they helped me with nutrition analysis, building my brand, my business. They literally took me by the hand until the day I launched on the shelf.”
Michael Onalimi cooking up a storm in his multi-purpose kitchen in Mountmellick, Co Laois. \ Claire Nash
Turning up the heat
Michael has four sauces as part of the Flavour Safari range: spicy tomato sauce, mild tomato and herb sauce, spicy olive and tomato sauce, and pesto. Each jar features a unique animal print label design that reflects the character, and spiciness, of the sauce inside. A giraffe pattern wraps around the mild tomato and herb. “A giraffe moves slowly and elegantly. It’s a very mild, gentle animal,” explains Michael.
Michael’s bestseller, the spicy olive and tomato sauce, is dressed in zebra stripes. “Zebras can be nice but also dangerous. It has a great kick, it gives you flavour and the heat hits you. But it’s not overpowering.”
And the leopard-draped spicy tomato? “This leopard will bite you, this is hot,” says Michael, laughing.
Since he started 10 years ago, Michael has seen a lot of changes in Irish taste buds, saying our palates have changed. “When I started, some of my sauces were too hot. Nobody would try it, so I reduced the spice, but I have increased it again now, because people are demanding this. At markets, customers tell me, I can handle that, I want more. In the past Irish people were afraid to try spice but now they are so adventurous.”
Selling for €4.99, Michael admits that his sauces have seen a price increase in the face of raising costs.
“In 2021, I was selling at €3.99 and I was afraid to put the price up. But I had to, because the costs are so high. I’m not a big conglomerate, I’m a small business, so I can’t compete on price. All I can compete on is quality. I don’t use preservatives or additives.”
Despite the economic challenges, Michael has been able to adapt to a changing market. His company sales increased by 59% from 2020 to 2021, even during the pandemic.
“During the lockdowns, people started changing what they eat and how they eat, and that worked to my advantage. I expanded during that time. People were more thoughtful about who is making what and where they’re getting their ingredients,” he says.
A big community
Michael talks openly about what it was like integrating into a small community in rural Ireland.
“Obviously when I came here, there weren’t many black people. I was like a superstar in Mountmellick,” he says, laughing. “Irish people are really nice. They don’t take themselves too seriously, they like to laugh, and the community just accepted me. I also play football, so everybody knows me here.”
There is now a diverse and inclusive community in Portlaoise, according to Michael, and a mix of cultural backgrounds including Polish and other Nigerians. “Every year we cook a meal together and everybody brings food from different parts of the world,” he says.
Growing up at the market in Lagos taught Michael how to build relationships and relate to people from a young age, something which not only helped him settle in his early days in rural Ireland, but also in dealing with customers and building a brand. “I really learned how to talk to people, meet customers and all that kind of thing.”
His background in sales and marketing also proved useful: “Previously I worked in a company that sells water dispensing machines and I worked with them for 10 years. When you can sell water in a country where it rains nine months in a year, you must be good!” he jokes.
Michael Onalimi sells his sauces in local markets and is also stocked in SuperValu stores nationwide. \ Claire Nash
In addition to being stocked in SuperValu, Michael pops up regularly at markets, including at the National Ploughing Championships and Gifted in the RDS. He is also a regular at food festivals nationwide where he gives cookery demonstrations. He is looking forward to the Waterford Festival of Food this weekend (25-27 April).
Markets and food festivals can be busy, but Michael says it stops him from being “stagnant”, as well as giving him “a chance to meet people and get feedback from the ground”.
One couple from whom Michael has solicited feedback is King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to Kilkenny in 2017. “I was invited but I didn’t know who was coming. I was just told, somebody wants to try your product, but we cannot tell you the name because of security reasons.
“King Charles was very nice. He was only supposed to spend 10 seconds with me and we ended up chatting for a few minutes,” Michael smiles. “So, you can say, I’ve been around.”
See flavoursafari.com
Michael Onalimi grew up surrounded by food, colour, smells and spices in the bustling marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria – a long way from Mountmellick.
However, since settling in the Laois town over 25 years ago, Michael’s passion for food has followed him across continents and, in 2015, he turned his love for flavour into a business,
Jungle Food Company was born with the intention of creating Ireland’s first African-inspired sauces, Flavour Safari.
Michael explains: “I looked into the market. There were Indian sauces, Chinese, Caribbean, and Italian, but nothing really African. That was a light bulb moment for me. I said, okay, I’ll come up with something new. There are hot sauces everywhere, but this is different. This gives you flavour before the heat and can be used for pasta, pizzas, rice, burgers or as a dipping sauce.”
Michael describes his sauces as a fusion between local Irish ingredients – tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and spinach – and African spices. “I spent a lot of time thinking about a name,” says Michael, “and Flavour Safari takes you on a journey.
“People who don’t have the chance to visit Nigeria, for example, can travel with the food.”
Michael is clearly comfortable in the kitchen, moving with both speed and ease as he clears surfaces and checks temperatures. As he stirs two big cauldrons of steaming hot sauce, he reflects on his deep connection with cooking. “I enjoy food. Food is what I love. Whenever there’s a family event, everybody comes around – they’re coming for the food as well [as the event].”
He pauses to season the sauces with African spices. “What I’m using here is African bird’s eye chilli [also known as peri-peri],” Michael explains, as he sprinkles the mixture into the bubbling red liquid, continuing to stir rhythmically. “I import my spices. It goes through the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. It gets stopped in customs, they check it, send it back to me. That’s how it works.”
SuperValu’s Food Academy programme gave Michael his first big break. “With a lot of food programmes, you have to be established already,” he explains. “But SuperValu takes local food producers and grows with you. I was one of the first people who did it in 2015.
“I was there with my little jar of sauce and they liked my product. In three months, they helped me with nutrition analysis, building my brand, my business. They literally took me by the hand until the day I launched on the shelf.”
Michael Onalimi cooking up a storm in his multi-purpose kitchen in Mountmellick, Co Laois. \ Claire Nash
Turning up the heat
Michael has four sauces as part of the Flavour Safari range: spicy tomato sauce, mild tomato and herb sauce, spicy olive and tomato sauce, and pesto. Each jar features a unique animal print label design that reflects the character, and spiciness, of the sauce inside. A giraffe pattern wraps around the mild tomato and herb. “A giraffe moves slowly and elegantly. It’s a very mild, gentle animal,” explains Michael.
Michael’s bestseller, the spicy olive and tomato sauce, is dressed in zebra stripes. “Zebras can be nice but also dangerous. It has a great kick, it gives you flavour and the heat hits you. But it’s not overpowering.”
And the leopard-draped spicy tomato? “This leopard will bite you, this is hot,” says Michael, laughing.
Since he started 10 years ago, Michael has seen a lot of changes in Irish taste buds, saying our palates have changed. “When I started, some of my sauces were too hot. Nobody would try it, so I reduced the spice, but I have increased it again now, because people are demanding this. At markets, customers tell me, I can handle that, I want more. In the past Irish people were afraid to try spice but now they are so adventurous.”
Selling for €4.99, Michael admits that his sauces have seen a price increase in the face of raising costs.
“In 2021, I was selling at €3.99 and I was afraid to put the price up. But I had to, because the costs are so high. I’m not a big conglomerate, I’m a small business, so I can’t compete on price. All I can compete on is quality. I don’t use preservatives or additives.”
Despite the economic challenges, Michael has been able to adapt to a changing market. His company sales increased by 59% from 2020 to 2021, even during the pandemic.
“During the lockdowns, people started changing what they eat and how they eat, and that worked to my advantage. I expanded during that time. People were more thoughtful about who is making what and where they’re getting their ingredients,” he says.
A big community
Michael talks openly about what it was like integrating into a small community in rural Ireland.
“Obviously when I came here, there weren’t many black people. I was like a superstar in Mountmellick,” he says, laughing. “Irish people are really nice. They don’t take themselves too seriously, they like to laugh, and the community just accepted me. I also play football, so everybody knows me here.”
There is now a diverse and inclusive community in Portlaoise, according to Michael, and a mix of cultural backgrounds including Polish and other Nigerians. “Every year we cook a meal together and everybody brings food from different parts of the world,” he says.
Growing up at the market in Lagos taught Michael how to build relationships and relate to people from a young age, something which not only helped him settle in his early days in rural Ireland, but also in dealing with customers and building a brand. “I really learned how to talk to people, meet customers and all that kind of thing.”
His background in sales and marketing also proved useful: “Previously I worked in a company that sells water dispensing machines and I worked with them for 10 years. When you can sell water in a country where it rains nine months in a year, you must be good!” he jokes.
Michael Onalimi sells his sauces in local markets and is also stocked in SuperValu stores nationwide. \ Claire Nash
In addition to being stocked in SuperValu, Michael pops up regularly at markets, including at the National Ploughing Championships and Gifted in the RDS. He is also a regular at food festivals nationwide where he gives cookery demonstrations. He is looking forward to the Waterford Festival of Food this weekend (25-27 April).
Markets and food festivals can be busy, but Michael says it stops him from being “stagnant”, as well as giving him “a chance to meet people and get feedback from the ground”.
One couple from whom Michael has solicited feedback is King Charles and Queen Camilla during their visit to Kilkenny in 2017. “I was invited but I didn’t know who was coming. I was just told, somebody wants to try your product, but we cannot tell you the name because of security reasons.
“King Charles was very nice. He was only supposed to spend 10 seconds with me and we ended up chatting for a few minutes,” Michael smiles. “So, you can say, I’ve been around.”
See flavoursafari.com
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