Nigerian-American chef on making a movie of his life, aged 29, and his book exposing racism in food industry
- Kwame Onwuachi has crammed a lot into his life, running a catering company, training as a chef in fine-dining kitchens and opening two restaurants
- Raised in the Bronx, he describes the racism he faced in New York kitchens, which he touched on in memoir he and rapper Lakeith Stanfield are making into a film
Kwame Onwuachi has accomplished more at the age of 29 than most people manage in a lifetime. He started cooking when he was five, sold confectionery bars in the New York subway, and started his own catering company when he was 20.
Seven years later he opened his first restaurant – which lasted all of three months. Undeterred, he opened a second, Kith/Kin, in Washington less than a year later.
He has also penned a memoir that received critical acclaim and is being made into a film starring actor and rapper Lakeith Stanfield.
The chef plans to open another restaurant, this one with an Afro-Caribbean theme, and diners will be able to sample dishes such as chawanmushi with black eyed pea custard, uni and confit chicken jus; lamb ribs with palm oil and onion sauce; roasted short ribs with oxtail sauce, with roti, coconut rice and peas, slow-cooked carrots and melted cabbage; and sesame cheesecake alfredo for dessert.