KIRAN JETHWA
CELEBRITY CHEF & TRAVEL ADVENTURER
Kiran Jethwa is regarded as Kenya’s first celebrity chef and widely recognised for his adventurous approach to cooking.
A keen traveller, he has developed his self taught talent for cooking through his own life experiences. Channel 4 is one of the leading global factual entertainment broadcaster and Kiran is the first Kenyan to have a regular presence across the channel in this genre.
Kiran Jethwa is the presenter of popular UK Channel 4 cooking show, Extreme Food & Food Unwrapped which he co-presented alongside Jimmy Dougherty, Matt Tebbett & Kate Quilton.
Extreme Food follows Kiran as he travels around the globe discovering indigenous ingredients and extreme methods of harvesting.
Born in Kenya to an Indian father and an English mother, Kiran was brought up with two younger brothers in a family who shared a strong passion for food from each culture.
He attended the University of Manchester to study hospitality management and whilst there, he began working in restaurant kitchens and fell in love with the environment and industry. He decided to move around and work for a variety of different restaurants to develop his skills and teach himself to become a chef.
TRAVEL, ADVENTURE & TV
After graduating, Kiran spent a year and a half travelling the world to Europe, USA, South East Asia and Australia. After visiting South Africa, Kiran sailed from Cape Town to Brazil which took him one month before going on to explore South and Central America.
Whilst travelling, his knowledge and experience of food excelled and sparked an adventurous spirit within him to discover the roots of where quality ingredients originate from.
In 2008, Kiran moved back to Kenya to tend to his family business. In October 2010, Kiran opened his first restaurant, Seven Seafood & Grill in Nairobi which was soon followed by Seven Grill & Lounge establishments. His company ‘Seven Restaurants Ltd’ within a four year span became the most popular, and decorated restaurant destinations in Kenya’s capital.
Wanting to continue exploring different ingredients and also to educate people on where quality food comes from, Kiran produced and presented a unique culinary TV show incorporating adventure under his own company Quite Bright Films Ltd; Tales from the Bush Larder with Fox International.
The award winning show successfully aired for 3 seasons and was viewed in over 120 countries, headlining on Nat Geo People. The show won best show in the 2013 Kalasha awards in Kenya, and Kiran was nominated 2 years running in the coveted as Best Presenter category. Kiran was also nominated by the Association of International Broadcasters (AIB) in 2014 as Best International TV personality alongside CNN’s Christiane Amanpour & Richard Quest.
In 2018, Kiran presented and developed a 360 degree VR Series for KLM called Round the World with Kiran Jethwa. In 2019, Kiran co-hosted and produced the first series of The Great Kenyan Bake-Off and is currently in the process of filming the second series.
