Nisha Katona

Nisha Katona is a British-born Indian, a dedicated curry evangelist and the founder of Mowgli Street Food.

Naturally charismatic and at ease on stage, the barrister-turned-entrepreneur is an excellent public speaker for all kinds of food-related events and can inspire others with her business story of setting up a successful chain of Indian street food restaurants.

Nisha’s aim is to take the grind out of curry creation. She is all about transforming cheap often meagre, seasonal and conscientiously grown ingredients into divine curries – simply and quickly. From couch to curry in just three spices should be possible for everyone.

Her first book ‘Pimp My Rice’ (2015) aims to impart readers with the secret formulas of the Indian kitchen in the form of a rice bible. Since then, she has been prolifically writing about Indian food and how to simplify cooking.

Alongside her writing, Nisha has also been making waves in the TV scene, appearing on shows such as Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and ITV’s Lorraine.

As well as taking her cooking on air, Nisha has also taken it to restaurants, building her empire across the UK. Mowgli Street Food opened in Liverpool early in 2015 and was such a success that a second site in Manchester’s sought-after Corn Exchange building came very quickly afterwards and has received lots of positive praise in the press.

Since then, she has gone on to open several more sites. Mowgli is all about the fresh reality of Indian home cooking, it is a million miles away from the curry house experience. Its dishes follow the Hindu tradition of garlic and onion free dishes for lunch - they are low fat, gluten-free, high in natural antioxidants and free from any artificial ingredients.

Prior to taking on the restaurant business, Nisha was a practicing barrister in the area of child protection. In 2008, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport appointed her as trustee of National Museums Liverpool and in 2009, the Cabinet Office appointed her as an Ambassador for Diversity in Public Appointments and in this capacity, has been engaged as an expert adviser by The Guardian newspaper.

With so much talent and wisdom to share, Nisha is an ideal keynote speaker on food, hospitality and entrepreneurship.