Hi, I’m Modijo.
Modijo {Muh-dee-joh} means ‘Eat too Much’ in colloquial Tswana. I love to eat just as much as I love to feed.
It was the nickname given to me when I was a baby by my nanny, Betty, who raised me in South Africa.
I learned how to sit by her placing me in a biscuit tin - just to give you a general idea of when and how my passion for baking started (and my deep appreciation and addiction to a good biscuit!). On a Friday, we used to make sugar biscuits in her sink (because no bowl was big enough). During the week, we’d make enough vetkoek for the neighbourhood. Cooking and baking has always been a comforting ritual for me. And now I am here to share my food with the world!
She taught me to love life’s simple pleasures. She taught me that feeding is a love language - and I have not known another love language since.
She was the person who made the kitchen feel like home. We were inseparable - wherever Betty was, I was next to her, or swaddled on her back. To her, my name was not Kim, it was “MAH-DEE-JOH!!” said with a cackle and a grin that I would give the world to hear and see again.
Betty died when I was 11 years old of a brain aneurysm. When I decided to make my bakery-dream a reality, it seemed only right to name it Modijo, as an ode to Betty, and to keep her with me.
Opening Modijo has been a lifelong dream. Pushed further and further down the line to wait for the perfect moment or to win the lottery and enroll in culinary school. I have realised neither of those things will likely ever happen, so, here I am. Giving it my best shot!
My real name is Kim. Now Kim Hutton, but my maiden name is Kim Burrell.
I am a South African who moved to London in 2024 with my husband, Chris. We live in Fulham, London.
What does Modijo offer?
Cakes, cookies, biscuits, breads, desserts and puddings. From the catalogue or made to order.
I don’t have a specific cuisine I can claim. Although, I do love a South African treat like a good rusk in the morning, or a tennis biscuit. I bake everything, pretty much. Except pastries - although this is a work in progress.
As a general rule, I try to make delicious baked goods with healthier substitutions in bakes to make it easier for your gut and hormones to breakdown. But these substitutions stop as soon as it impacts the taste or texture.
In 2025 I had two major abdominal surgeries. I had a temporary stoma for 4 months, and over a period of 6 months I had a total of 3.5 weeks of nil.by.mouth. NOTHING passed my lips. It was, on every level, torture. But it also taught me so much about the gut. How we break down foods, the hormones involved, and the impact that the gut has on your mind.
Before my surgery, I was a low-calorie-high-protein girly, through and through. Protein-powder 90 calorie brownies?! SIGN ME UP! Not anymore. I have learned to appreciate a treat as a treat. To eat in moderation instead of restriction, and cut out heavily processed foods, or any food that lives on a shelf in a store with a sell-by date longer than a few days. Of course, this ‘realisation’ cut out a lot of my staples in my home, such as the Warburton’s High Protein Bagel thins, and as somebody who LIVES to eat, I cannot just cut out a good thing. I needed to make my own replacement. Same thing goes for the heavily processed and over-priced goodies from the South African stores.
I spend a lot of my life making a lot of things from scratch. And with only two people to eat food I spent days making - Modijo was born.
I know I should actually choose a niche and stick to it, but to be honest - I love variety (and I admit to a terrible case of indecision). So, Modijo is really just a collection of my favourite bakes as my catalogue, but I can also bake whatever it is your heart or event desires.
Welcome to my little dream, reader. You are so welcome here!
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