Ogbonnia Friday, November 26, 2021
(We'll follow yesterday's post on Stong - basketball - with another on Ogbonnia - football.) How defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia became UCLA’s top chef Thuc Nhi Nguyen, LA Times, 11-24-21
Otito Ogbonnia’s hands, beaten up from years of striking blocking sleds and fighting off offensive linemen, drop delicate pools of fresh strawberry puree into a creamy white batter. Relative to the UCLA defensive lineman’s massive hands, the spoon Ogbonnia is holding looks like something used to feed babies. He drags it through the red puddles, gently swirling them to create a whimsical pattern. Ogbonnia pauses to inspect his work. When Ogbonnia is not mauling offensive linemen, he’s here, leaning over the kitchen counter of his studio apartment in a UCLA graduate student housing complex or peering into the half-sized oven to check on his latest culinary creation. The senior nose tackle is UCLA’s top chef. What started as youthful curiosity is now a deep passion for Ogbonnia. He orders spices from Indonesia to master cinnamon rolls, writes and rewrites his own recipes in his quest for perfection, then delivers his dishes to teammates, coaches and trainers at UCLA to unite the team through a language 300-pound men speak and understand even more fluently than football: food. The day teammates savor the most is Thanksgiving, when Ogbonnia supplies a home-cooked meal for players who can’t return home for the holiday. Talk of the dinners elicit bright-eyed expressions and salivating mouths. Roasted duck. Cornbread with a sage honey butter glaze. Ham. Ribs. Stuffing. No store-bought mixes on this table. “Probably the best Thanksgiving meal I’ve ever had, to be honest,” said running back Ethan Fernea, who called Ogbonnia’s macaroni and cheese “out of this world.” This culinary tradition like no other continues Thursday, two days before the Bruins (7-4, 180
UCLA Faculty Association Blog: 4th Quarter 2021
