In Precise Stride
Jaycee Kesh Akinsanya
Conversations, Travel, Food.
ABOUTI'm
Jaycee Kesh Akinsanya- private chef, explorer, and author.I've lived in seven countries and traveled through 48. I've walked 2,000 miles across four Camino de Santiago pilgrimages, studied ancient Vedic texts and practiced sustainable agriculture. I published a memoir, "War, Momma, and Me," in 2018.My Liberian heritage informs my cooking, but so does everything else: Lebanese techniques, Indian spices, Spanish simplicity, Middle Eastern hospitality. I'm finalizing a cookbook - Kesh's Table - that brings all of this together.I host conversations about grief, food, travel, and sustainable living. I lead small-group travel experiences focused on cultural immersion and intentional exploration.Everything I do is about moving deliberately
- in precise stride.Instagram: @chefkeshasme
Email: [email protected]
Zoom Gatherings
Every other weekend, I host 90-minute conversations about things that matter. Small groups (15-20 people max). Real talk.Suggested donation: $10-25
(Can't afford it? Come anyway. Honor system.)
GRIEF AS PRESENCE
Saturday, February 15, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETHow loss teaches us to be fully here. This conversation is for anyone who's lost someone, is afraid of losing someone, or is trying to understand what it means to be alive when death is always nearby.We'll talk about: grief as reminder (not burden), how food connects us to the dead, the Camino as grief walk, learning to live fully because we die.---
EATING THROUGH GRIEF
Sunday, March 2, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETFood as remembrance and comfort. How cooking traditional recipes keeps people present. Saturday gatherings. Thursday Table meals. The recipes that connect us to people who are gone.We'll talk about: cooking as ritual, feeding grief, recipes as inheritance, the table as sacred space.---
TRAVEL WITHOUT EXTRACTION
Saturday, March 15, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETThe difference between tourism and cultural immersion. How to be a guest, not a consumer. What 48 countries taught me about respect, humility, and actually seeing people.We'll talk about: cultural immersion vs tourism, learning languages, eating what locals eat, the ethics of travel photography, going slow.---
SUSTAINABLE LIVING ON A BUDGET
Sunday, April 6, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETYou don't need to be rich to live sustainably. Real choices for real people. Natural fiber clothing that lasts 20 years. Eating local. Making things instead of buying them. Living deliberately without the Instagram perfection.We'll talk about: buying less, choosing quality, sustainable agriculture, cooking from scratch, living well on less.---
KESH'S TABLE: STORIES BEHIND THE RECIPES
Saturday, April 19, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETStories behind the cookbook I'm finalizing. Liberian recipes and their origins. Dishes collected from around the world. The 84-fish disaster. What palm butter simmering for hours teaches about patience. How recipes become inheritance.We'll talk about: learning to cook, Liberian food culture, recipe development, cookbook process, cooking as practice.---
THE CAMINO EFFECT
Sunday, May 3, 2026 | 11 AM PT / 2 PM ETWhat 2,000 miles of walking does to your brain, body, and spirit. Four pilgrimages between 2019-2024. Why I keep going back. Walking as meditation. The Meseta. Arriving in Santiago. Coming home changed.We'll talk about: why people walk the Camino, physical challenges, spiritual questions, meeting yourself on the trail, integrating the experience.---
More topics coming soon.
Suggest a topic: [email protected]
Travel Experiences
2026
Small groups. 5 people max. Cultural immersion, not tourism. We go slow. We go deep.All trips require a brief conversation before booking to ensure we're a good fit. These aren't tours - they're collaborations.---
TUCSON COOKBOOK RETREAT
March 30- April6, April 9-15, or April 17-23Help me finalize Kesh's Table. You work on your creative project while I cook and test recipes. You taste and give honest feedback. Photographer documents it all. Pool, yoga, Sonoran Desert, all meals.7 days | Catalina Foothills, Tucson | 5 spots per week---
MONTANA: BIG SKY COUNTRY
August 15-25, 2026Yellowstone National Park. Beartooth Highway. Hot springs under stars. Cowboy culture. The real American West before it disappears.11 days | Based in Laurel, Montana | 5 spotsWHAT WE'LL DO:
→ Yellowstone (3 full days - geysers, wildlife, Grand Prismatic)
→ Beartooth Highway (most beautiful drive in America)
→ Chico Hot Springs (natural mineral pools)
→ Local culture (rodeos, farmers markets, Montana bars)
→ Dark skies (Milky Way visible from the house)August in Montana = warm days, cool nights, peak season but we'll time it right.---
NEW MEXICO: ACOMA HARVEST FESTIVAL
August 30 - September 8, 2026Witness the harvest festival at Acoma Pueblo (Sky City) - one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America (since 1150 AD). Then explore: Taos, Ghost Ranch, Rio Grande Gorge, hot springs, Santa Fe.10 days | High desert | Sacred ceremony | 5 spotsWHAT WE'LL EXPERIENCE:
→ Acoma Pueblo harvest festival (sacred dances, traditional foods)
→ Taos art galleries & Rio Grande Gorge
→ Ghost Ranch (Georgia O'Keeffe's landscape)
→ Ojo Caliente hot springs
→ Santa Fe culture & historyCULTURAL PROTOCOLS: At Acoma, we are guests on sovereign Native land. No photos during dances. Dress respectfully. We witness, we don't extract.---