Manyatta celebrates Kenya’s many meanings of home at iToka

Labdi on the right at Manyatta’s Taste Like Home activation at iToka_thecrossing, Nairobi.

The Taste Like Home platform joined iToka_thecrossing in Nairobi, where music, art and shared experiences explored belonging.

Key points

• Manyatta partnered with iToka_thecrossing in Nairobi on 1 September 2026.

• The activation extended Manyatta’s Taste Like Home platform into a cultural event.

• The brand said it wanted to celebrate culture without prescribing a single definition of it.

Manyatta brought its Taste Like Home platform to iToka_thecrossing in Nairobi on 1 September 2026, using the partnership to explore how modern Kenyans define belonging.

The event combined music, art, conversations and shared experiences in a setting designed to place different expressions of Kenyan culture alongside one another.

Why did Manyatta partner with iToka_thecrossing?

Manyatta said the partnership gave it an opportunity to participate in a cultural space without reducing Kenyan identity to one fixed definition. The brand positioned iToka_thecrossing as a meeting point for Kenyan stories, sounds and experiences.

The event created a space where “memory met imagination” and where the past, present and future could exist together. The partnership extended Taste Like Home beyond a product message and into a wider conversation about identity and belonging.

That distinction matters for a brand activation. Instead of leading with a product claim, Manyatta used the idea of home as an open question. The platform connects home with familiar experiences, including music, language, food, childhood memories, neighbourhoods, friendship and belonging.

What did visitors experience at the Nairobi event?

The event brought together music, art, conversations and shared experiences. These elements reflected a generation that is continually shaping and redefining Kenyan culture.

Rather than focus on one performance or installation, iToka_thecrossing brought different cultural expressions together. The setting placed memory, imagination and contemporary Kenyan identity side by side.

That approach allowed the idea of home to move beyond geography. A familiar song, a shared meal, a language, a childhood memory or a friendship can all create the feeling of being at home.

What does Taste Like Home mean in this activation?

For Manyatta, Taste Like Home became a platform for discussing belonging rather than promoting one prescribed version of Kenyan culture. The brand said it was choosing to show up in spaces where people are already creating, sharing and redefining culture.

That approach places the audience at the centre of the activation. Home can be connected to a sound, language, meal, memory, neighbourhood, friendship or feeling. The brand’s role is to create a space where those associations can be expressed.

The approach also reflects a broader challenge for cultural marketing: a brand can seek relevance without claiming ownership of the culture it references. Manyatta’s position is that culture is created every day by people, rather than prescribed by brands.

What did Manyatta say it wants audiences to take away?

Manyatta’s message is that home is not limited to one place, sound or story. It can be found wherever people recognise something of themselves, including spaces where cultures meet and overlap.

The partnership presents Taste Like Home as a cultural platform designed to meet audiences in spaces where identity is being created and shared. It gives Manyatta a way to participate in conversations about belonging without claiming ownership of Kenyan culture.

Frequently asked questions

What is iToka_thecrossing?

iToka_thecrossing is a cultural space where Kenyan identities, stories, sounds and experiences meet. The event brought these different expressions into one setting and explored how culture is remembered, shared and reimagined.

What is Manyatta’s Taste Like Home platform?

Taste Like Home is Manyatta’s platform for connecting the brand with ideas of culture, memory and belonging. In this activation, Manyatta used the platform to celebrate different interpretations of home rather than define Kenyan culture in a single way.

When did Manyatta appear at iToka_thecrossing?

Manyatta’s partnership with iToka_thecrossing was announced on 1 September 2026.

Who is Catherine Wahu?

Catherine Wahu is Manyatta’s Brand Manager. She described the partnership as a way to help people connect, express themselves and experience a genuine sense of belonging.

Manyatta’s presence at iToka_thecrossing placed the brand inside an ongoing cultural conversation: how Kenyans define home for themselves, and how those meanings change as people, places and generations meet.