Nairobi, Sept. 3 -- This month, Bhavana Rao is heading to California to take up a job as head pastry chef at a newly built restaurant. It is a big step in a journey she nearly did not take, having initially been steered toward the seemingly more stable world of business.

There is also some irony in the destination. When she was in culinary school, pastry was the one area where the 28-year-old Kenyan chef struggled. Her cooking and knife skills were exceptional, and she excelled at savoury dishes, but baking and sugar work often fell short.

Today, after four years as pastry sous chef at two-Michelin-starred Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, she is preparing to take charge of a pastry kitchen in California.

Her interest in food, howe...