Atreka

All Nations Atreka

I first came to London in 2001 when I was twenty-two and Hackney was the first place I settled. My first experience when I came here was of anxiety. Back home, their perspective is that if you are going to a foreign island, you must do better, you must pave the way. So that responsibility was on my shoulders as I was the second one out of my family to travel and my eldest sister was in America. I am very family orientated and I love my mum and dad and my siblings. I had the responsibility of my life and of providing for them. If you go to a foreign country people expect that of you. It was that feeling and the uncertainty. But I reach and my aunty, Miss P, Pauline was living Dalston, and she said, “come on we are going to the market”, and I end up on Ridley Road. You know, you see everything, the Caribbean vibes and you get that more home feeling. It was nice. So, you have the fear of the uncertainty and then you become familiar with the place and the fear fades away. I guess with any new thing you’re going to have that anxiety, but then you realise you were overthinking the whole process and it’s not that bad.

My vegan journey began three months after I had my son third son Maliik. I took ill. I did not know what it was, but it was instant pain. I went to hospital, and they told me I had fibroids and they had to do an emergency operation straight away on that same day. The fibroid was the size of a football, 15 cm big. Fibroids are common in women, but they don’t know the cause of it. After that I did some research but could not get the information I needed, like why? Someone introduced me to an herbalist and raw foodist named Darren. I met him and after a health assessment, I went raw for three years. So, my journey began there, it was for health reasons, but I’m glad I did it and question why I didn’t do it sooner. Nothing cooked, only raw smoothies and raw food. That opened a gateway for me. Now I make unique sauces here at the restaurant that a lot of people like. That was part of my journey as it opened up my mind to start experimenting with my herbs, the way I eat and to get that taste to compliment the dish. Then I started to make little sauces to marinate the dishes. That’s how it started out, there and then. After I went raw, I became more health conscious. I normally would just eat anything, and eating is just something you do when you’re hungry and not think about the benefits of the food. So, I started paying a bit more attention to that. At that point I was twenty stone, asthmatic and experiencing problems with my chest getting tight. After that I started to look after myself. I changed my diet, and everything was gone. They take me back off the asthma list and everything I used to experience was gone. So, I thought if this works, why change it. I felt so much better, and I had a lot more energy. After the fibroid operation the hospital said, “sorry but you won’t be able to have any more children but give thanks as you have three already.” But after I restored my health, I remember Darren telling me “you are going to be very fertile after this.” After that I had four more sons. I feel good and I believe in what I am doing. Six of my seven sons was born into this way of life. I decided to continue doing this. I love being plant based and not only that I believe in it.

I was born a chef. I was always cooking Caribbean food. I have been in the UK twenty years now. For fifteen of those twenty years I was delayed by the Home Office to get my indefinite leave to remain. I finally acquired that five years ago. During that time, it’s like you are living the dream in your head. My dream was always to open my own restaurant but during the years I was waiting for my passport I did functions for people. I was thankful for the opportunities but sometimes working for other people can be a setback. If you are a creative person you have to stick to a routine. Working for myself I can let my creativity shine and that’s where I am happiest.

Even though I am dyslexic and have a learning disability, I don’t let that hold me back. I just accept myself for who I am and what I can do. I used to be embarrassed about my dyslexia because in our culture, if you can’t read things or do things the book way, they say your stupid, you’re dumb. So, I used to hide it but then I realised when I did a dyslexic test, I did not even know the meaning of the word at the time. They said I was 97% dyslexic. When you’re dyslexic you see things differently, your mind processes things differently. I accept who I am. As soon as I accepted myself, I realised I can make lovely food, I can use my hands. I am visual and learn by doing. My love was always food, my passion was always food.

I am from Jamaica originally and my mum had eight of us. I am the third from my mum but the first from my dad. My mum is a beautiful cook, so I used to love to sit in the kitchen and watch her cook. One day I was around eight, but Jamaica is different to hear for children, In Jamaica you are as big as you act. If you act responsibly, they are going to give you that role to play. I said to my mum “mummy can I cook and she said, “can you do it” and I said “yeah.” That day I cooked dinner for the whole family and my dad came home and said “Yvonne, the food taste good and she said Atreka cooked it. For me it was beautiful knowing that he could not distinct that my mum did not cook it. I did well. From that day I have been cooking.

My mum Yvonne Cameron and my dad Linton Cameron still live in Jamaica, but they came to visit for six months in 2019. So, my journey with creativity began back home at a tender age and the love for food was just in me. I love cooking. I used to do events like supper clubs, and you see the honest response of people when they eat their meal and they don’t know it’s you. You sit and watch their response. This makes something grow inside you. Because of that my confidence grew more and more. I thought Atreka, you got this. Sometimes when people think you don’t have a piece of paper to show. They think that you’re not qualified or good enough. I respect people who go through the process of getting that piece of paper, but my process may not be that journey. My process is my experience with life, with what I see in my environment, with responding to what is around me. That is my experience and I put my passion into it and give it my all. I like to say I am doing righteous food because I am cutting no corners with my food. So, when people taste that they should know, they appreciate it, they say yeah, this done the right way. You know I didn’t take no shortcuts and I make righteous food and I am loving it.

I opened All Nations Vegan House in December 2017, so it will soon be four years we are trading here. Many years ago, before it was a restaurant, this place was a Caribbean barbers, owned by Mr Knight. He was well known across London, and he cut Muhammad Ali’s hair and Marvin Gaye’s hair and all these celebrities from back in the day. So to see that same energy go around full circle, it’s beautiful.

And knowing I am the one who bring that back, you know Mr Knight’s presence is good. It’s only good vibes and love, and I call everyone who come through my door my king and my queen because I remember there was a point and time in my life, where I did not remember who I was. Then I met this woman named Val from Kingsmead Estate who is no longer with us - may her soul rest. But that lady always had a big smile on her face, and she always had positivity to give us. Even in my darkest moments she brought out a smile. So, I know the power of smiling, the power of one positive word. I try to give that to anyone who walks through the door. At that moment in life, that one thing can change a person’s perspective. You can be going through a lot, and someone can say one thing to you and you smile. It’s powerful.

A lot of people come in here and say to me “oh we didn’t know that Jamaicans did vegan” and I said that’s where the word vegan born but under a different name – ‘Ital.’ coming from the English word vital. Rastafarians lived an Ital life for decades and that’s the birthplace of it, but people just refer to it now as vegan. The culture of Jamaica, we have a lot of herbs and spices and most of the dishes from the Rastafarians, you know they are Ital. I think is a cultural thing. So for me to make that transition and do the food, you’re just cooking Caribbean food without meat. If you go to Jamaica and you see the Ital, they’re cooking, they will use their coconut, their thyme and their scallion. That is cultural. People think they can only have meat dishes with flavours, so they tend to shy away from veganism. But then they realise that people still prepare Ital, plant based, vegan food and it’s still flavoursome. Most of our customers that are not vegan, come for the first time, they are blown away by our dishes. They sit and they eat and they say, “I didn’t miss the meat one moment on my plate.” I say to people all the time, “You like the food because it’s seasoned.” If you season your vegetables in the same way as meat, you will love it too.

Before I opened this place, I used to work here. I didn’t have my stay at the time, but I was doing my cooking at this place, and it was called All Nations Café. Now a friend of mine knew they wanted a chef and that I’m a very good cook. They invited me down to do a cook taste. We went to Jimmy’s on Ridley Road to get some meat to do the taste test and the owner Clive said “The job is yours.” They mentioned that I did not eat the food and I explained I was vegan but could cook all kinds of food. They told me they would raise my wages once things got busier. The owner Ikeno, had me working form 8am until 8pm. People liked the food and I started to make bigger pots, so I asked for a twenty-pound raise to the sixty pounds he paid me per day. They avoided giving me the raise, so I told them that they didn’t value my service, so what’s the point. They did not seem to value what I was giving. I knew what I was giving, and I knew the worth of it. I stand in that kitchen and I stopped what I was doing, and I looked around and I said I’m going to own this place and turn it into a vegan restaurant.

Things are not always ideal. It’s not the situation what you want it to be. All those years I was trying to get my stay from the Home Office and they would turn down the application. I would have to re-charge my mind, send back the application and at the same time not let it dampen my spirit. And at that moment I always thought I can’t do what I want to do, but I do what I can do for my family. I couldn’t do what I wanted because I didn’t have residency. I had to wait fifteen years and, in that time, I was having my children. But I’ll be honest that fifteen-year journey without the stay from the home office, I would not change that for the world, because it made me who I am. And it even made me more determined and so if someone says no to me, it’s not no for me, it’s I am going to find a way how to. Regardless, it gave me character. I like it because all that experience that I have and the journey to here, it gave me the energy to do what I had to do in the kitchen. In the end the opportunity came and I got the papers. I really paid the price and it felt like I was in an open prison because you are not allowed to do what you really want to do. Each time that application is turned down you have to pay that fee, the lawyers fee, you have to pay all of these fee. For years and years every penny you save you’re just pumping back to the lawyers, the Home Office. And I think if you’re here because people work regardless, you have to work to survive. So even if they say you can’t work until such and such a time – you have to work to survive. So why not give people the chance to work while they wait. It makes sense. For everybody. And you will see, the system, they are not here to take. You know when you come from the Caribbean you come from a working background. It doesn’t matter what kind of job it is, it’s work. And when we work, we put in our all in it. We don’t cut corners. People will work! So it’s not like they want to come, and they want to stay, and they want to jump on the system – no, they will put in. Anyway, it is what it is and I did it, and I opened this place, All Nations Vegan House. It was the birth of All Nations Vegan and yeah, it’s good, and I give thanks. But when I first opened, I was running up and down the stairs, doing the cleaning, serving, everything by myself. Part of my journey shaped me to let me know, “Listen, either you do it, or it won’t be done.” I was going to find a way and I was going to get it done. I want my boys to see that and know they can do that within themselves in any area of life they choose.

All Nations is like a community shop really. Ridley Road is a landmark, it’s a valuable history, it’s identity, it’s the heart and soul of Hackney. Local people and most of the stores on the High Road know us. It’s about the feeling people get when they come in the shop or the presence when they see us. Most of the time I have my boys here helping me and the personality of them, people say they are very polite and it’s just that. People really respect what we are doing and love us for who we are. The space here has a good energy to it. You can see Black literature all around the place. My journey here, over fifteen years was a growth also. As I said, I am dyslexic but that doesn’t stop me from loving books. I may not be able to read them fluently all through, but I listen to them and when I get the time I go through them, because I read from memory. I memorise words in my brain and if I see a new word that I don’t know, my phone is my best friend. What I don’t know I just google it and it just comes up. You just talk in the mike, and it tells you. It’s about not holding yourself back. If I go through ten or one hundred audio books, that’s one hundred different experiences I could add to what I know. The challenging times I was going through, I know the comfort books gave to me. Sometimes I have a book where I put down little quotes. Sometimes we don’t know what people are going through. If someone comes in here and finds something in one of the books, I know what that gives to me, and I also know the power of that. As you see the types of books here are empowering. It’s good to have these books around and a lot of people come in and they say “Are you selling the books”. I tell them they are for customers to read. They take up a book and they start reading and something in it catch them and they say, “Can I borrow this book?” I just say put your name and number down and they borrow it. When they finish, they give it back. Some of them take a photo and say, “Where can I get this book?” It’s nice.

I went to see the picture under the bridge, and I love it. I am really proud of all the pieces that was there, and I see Joycelyn was there and aunty Rose, people I know very well. Very respectable people from the community and all of the other people there I just feel really proud of their journey. I am also proud that I can be who I am, and people accept that, and they don’t judge me like “Oh why she have all those kids?” But I think if you don’t enjoy your life and what you do you don’t grow and you dampen your spirit. Enjoying your life is the only way you can grow and there are sparks because your spirit recharges all the time and that gives you room for new ideas.