‘You understand the language of others through their food’: Get to know @lucascookbook_

The wind whistled through Simpson Street last Sunday night as McCormick fourth-year Lucas Wesonga pried open the door to his apartment. 

“The food will take another 35 minutes if that’s OK?” he said. 

Wesonga had texted earlier in the day, writing, “Come hungry :).” He’s known for the delicious meals he documents on his Instagram and TikTok accounts,@lucascookbook_. Red wine braised short ribs. Mango sticky rice. Crepes. Lamb pilau - a rice dish that evokes memories of his home in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Wesonga, 23, has been cooking since he was 13 years old. 

Thirty-five minutes was nothing. I could be hungry and patient. 

The kitchen was orderly, which you might come to expect from a whole-brain engineer. Raw eggplant, squash, tomatoes and zucchini were prepared on the counter, chopped and organized like one would arrange Python files: methodical, neat, utilitarian. 

He’s majoring in computer science, a specialization with a schedule so demanding it might seem at odds with his culinary hobby. But code can have the rest of the week. 

“I intentionally block out time for me to be in the kitchen,” Wesonga said. “Usually it's a day like this Sunday.”

Halfway through preparing the meal, Wesonga left the kitchen to retrieve his tripod and camera light. He played around with camera angles and shots. Should he hold the cast-iron skillet this way, or that way? Tilt the camera here, or there? 

He’s still trying to master the intricacies of creating content for social media, but it’s something he said he’d been wanting to do for a while. After taking Northwestern’s famous “Designing Your Life” course last fall, he was inspired to imagine different versions of his future.

“I remember the professor saying, ‘What's stopping you from having those versions of your lives right now? Nothing.’” Wesonga said. “That's when the initial idea of starting a cooking channel came to me.”

The social media schtick is new. His cooking? Not so much. Wesonga has gravitated towards kitchens since he was 13 years old. It was humble beginnings with starts and stops consisting of a simple tilapia dish and stews. But he stuck with it, improving as time went on.

The account @lucascookbook_ has been up for under a year, but it’s found its’ place within Wesonga’s typical cooking routine.

When he arrived in Evanston in 2021, he befriended a senior who was also Kenyan. Wesonga, bored with dining hall food, and his friend, desperate for familiar cuisines, developed an arrangement. Wesonga would cook anything as long as his friend secured the ingredients, spices that seemed impossible to find in the States.

“I was building that relationship centered around food,” Wesonga said. “That’s how I survived freshman year.”

Wesonga, who is both Kenyan and Ethiopian, understands food as a Venn diagram of culture, relationships and shared experiences. Learning how to navigate those overlapping boundaries is how you become a true food connoisseur, a milestone he said he’s pushing himself to reach.

“You understand the language of others through their food,” he said. “You understand the language of humanity by trying different foods.”

Even though the meals on his Instagram and TikTok look good enough to like (and eat, of course), those dishes are only glimpses into his culinary journey, a learning process with plenty of ups and downs, said Wesonga.

Once, he attempted to make a chicken cooked in coconut broth. Due to some mathematical errors, the chicken came out too sweet. Wesonga, who hates wasting food, forced himself to eat it for the rest of the week.

And then there was the pilau incident. Pilau is a Kenyan rice dish that’s been featured on Wesonga’s accounts before. It typically features a soft bed of rice steamed together with well-seasoned protein. But this time, after burning the hell out of it, he just had to throw it out.

“Honestly, I've been thinking about being more transparent,” Wesonga said. “Because I meet a lot of people who are like, ‘Oh my god, I watch your videos and you're so good,’ and in my head, or sometimes I even end up telling them, ‘I'm still learning.’”

A lot of it is improvisation, he explained. For example, the chicken wings he made were originally supposed to be jerk chicken. Wesonga didn’t have the appropriate seasoning, nor did he know how to actually make jerk chicken. So, he experimented with what he did have. A dash of cayenne there, some habanero here. And to top it off, he whipped up a quick sauce in a matter of minutes. He couldn’t say what was in it, just that he was guided by instinct. 

Wesonga also added a personal touch to his ratatouille, sneaking in peppers that might bring the fictional food critic Anton Ego to tears.

“Eat as much as you want!” He said as he pulled out a set of plates. 

The chicken was sweet, juicy and flavorful with a bite of spice. The ratatouille, which is a French dish that can often err on the side of dull, came to life in a 4D landscape of dynamic seasonings and blends. 

Wesonga prepared ratatouille doctored with cayenne and habanero pepper and baked chicken wings with an improvised sauce.

Did I ask for seconds? Well yes!

Wesonga is on track to graduate in June. Computer science is still his main priority, but culinary school remains a far off possibility. Cooking for the sake of cooking is fun, sure. But what really makes him happy is being able to share with the people closest to him. 

“A lot of core memories I have are centered around food,” Wesonga said. “I love that food brings people together. And if my skill can play a part in that, then by all means, I would pursue it.” 

Rapid Fire Qs

Q: Breakfast, lunch or dinner?

A: Dinner. 
Q: Sweet or savory?

A: Savory.
Q: Mild or spicy?

A: Sometimes mild, sometimes spicy.
Q: Drums or flats?

A: Drums.

Q: Favorite dish you’ve made?

A: The ice cream cake, actually. So for context, on my last birthday, I made myself my birthday cake. I took it as a challenge to improve my baking skills. The ice cream cake is definitely the thing I'm most proud of.

Q: Favorite Evanston/Chicago restaurants?

A: One is Tomate. I live really close to it. I like the burritos. Second, Joyee. I think I have Joyee at least once a week, but I only get one thing on the menu, so I don't really like their whole menu. And then in Chicago, Maggiano’s. It's an Italian restaurant in Little Italy, and there's one in Skokie. 
Q: Kenyan or Ethiopian food?

A: Kenyan food.