Kwame Onwuachi is the executive chef at Kith and Kin and owner of the Philly Wing Fry franchise in Washington, D.C. He was born on Long Island and raised in New York City, Nigeria and Louisiana. Onwuachi was first exposed to cooking by his mother, in the family’s modest Bronx apartment, and he took that spark of passion and turned it into a career. From toiling in the bowels of oil cleanup ships to working at some of the best restaurants in the world, he has seen and lived his fair share of diversity. Onwuachi trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has opened five restaurants before turning 30. A former "Top Chef" contestant, he has been named a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes.

Books by Kwame Onwuachi

Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir

by Kwame Onwuachi with Joshua David Stein - Cooking, Food, Memoir, Nonfiction

By the time he was 27, Kwame Onwuachi had opened --- and closed --- one of the most talked-about restaurants in America. He had sold drugs in New York and been shipped off to rural Nigeria to “learn respect.” He had launched his own catering company with $20,000 made from selling candy on the subway and starred on "Top Chef." Through it all, Onwuachi’s love of food and cooking remained a constant, even when, as a young chef, he was forced to grapple with just how unwelcoming the food world can be for people of color. In this inspirational memoir about the intersection of race, fame and food, he shares the remarkable story of his culinary coming-of-age.