As a Senior at McCaskey Oliver Saye had no idea what he was going to do with his life. When given the opportunity to sign up for CTC he browsed through the options; Carpentry, Masonry, Nursing, the list went on. Nothing caught Saye’s eye until he saw Culinary Services. “I cooked in the home growing up, I didn’t know anything about carpentry or masonry, but cooking I knew.”

Signing up for CTC Culinary was Saye’s first step into the culinary world. What he found there fascinated him. The world of food was expansive, something he further discovered as he spent the majority of his senior year in the kitchens at CTC. His instructor was passionate, so much so that Saye and his peers fed off of and developed that same passion about food. His time in the kitchen inspired him, and he delved into the food world, watching cooking shows and reading food magazines in his free time. 

“Prior to my senior year, I had no clue what I was going to do. When I entered CTC, right away I was like ‘Oh okay this is my path’.” Saye followed the path CTC opened for him with vigor. He attended Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh and then continued his culinary education at the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York. He spent his time in culinary school learning the basics: bread, pastry, cookies. His educational exploration of culinary arts opened him up to new worlds, intensifying his love of food. “It was making different dishes that sparked something in me.” 

Saye, referred to as Chef Oliver by those familiar with him, is the owner of Homage: Cuisines of the West African Diaspora. His business explores the diaspora of West African food as a result of the Transatlantic slave trade. Using his Facebook page Chef Oliver investigates the history of dishes like Jollof rice and its many relatives–Red rice, Spanish rice, Jambalaya, and the ways geography affected their creation. 

Before food, Chef Oliver had two other loves. He would spend hours pouring over encyclopedias, reading straight from A to Z, drawn in by the history and geography they contained. When he became a chef the next step was only natural. “With Homage, I combined all of my loves, history, geography, and food.” 

Chef Oliver built Homage with the goal of doing exactly as the business name suggests, paying homage. “We celebrate folks who haven’t been celebrated,” he says. Food brought from West Africa by slaves is the basis for significant portions of the culinary world in the Americas. Chef Oliver wants people to recognize and respect that fact. “Folks think they aren’t aware of the West African diaspora but they’ve been eating it their whole lives. Cuisine of the West African Diaspora is West African cuisine, it’s Southern cuisine, it’s Caribbean cuisine, it’s Central and South American cuisine. West African cuisine is the foundation of all of those.” 

Chef Oliver started Homage five years ago and has since expanded from retail and catering to owning and operating a food truck. He brings the food of the West African diaspora to Lancaster but that’s not where his business stops. In an interview he explained, “I’m here to feed people’s bellies but I’m also here to feed their minds.” His recipes and the stories behind them bring a refreshing lens to explain the food we eat and why we eat it.