Meet the cooks

Charita Jones, or Momma Cherri, hit the headlines when her Soulfood Shack in Brighton was praised by Gordon Ramsay. Momma appeared on many TV shows as a celebrity chef and cook book author, and enjoys sharing her knowledge with her local community by doing events at prisons, schools, and community centres. She always shares her laughter and stories as well as the recipes and hearty cooking style that so excited Chef Gordon. Check out Momma Cherri’s unique, winning style on her successful YouTube channel.

Jethro Carr runs the pop up cookery school Kitchen Academy. He has a simple and friendly approach to exploring global cuisines and enjoys cooking with recipes that are down-to-earth and fun. He has taught in schools, universities, festivals and events nationwide. Teaching people young and old to cook, he performs cookery demonstrations, master classes, workshops, gastronomic experiments and corporate team-building events. He has run cookery schools with Hay Festival, Kew Gardens, The Olympic Park, Abergavenny Food Festival, PGL Cookery Holidays, BBC and Blenheim Palace.

Olly Dawson is the owner of the extremely popular street food stall Olly’s Fish Shack. At the Fish Shack, Olly and his team keep things simple, serving dishes from exceptionally fresh local fish from dayboats or MSC certified catch. In the decade before starting the Fish Shack, Olly worked as a community chef in Sussex and the surrounding area sharing his passion for cooking and helping people get the same satisfaction he gets when he’s in front of the stove!

Priya Deshingkar is the owner and founder of Deccan Tiffin, and runs successful monthly Maharani Supperclubs from her home in Hove, as well as popular pop-ups in the West Hove area. She’s also an academic researching migration at the University of Sussex who brings her background rooted in the cuisines of north India to Brighton & Hove. She says she learnt how to cook from her grandmothers and many neighbourhood Auntijis who were all great cooks.

Charlotte Fuller is an experienced, trained pastry chef. She runs her own small cake business and work freelance as a pastry chef. Qualified with the Award in Education & Training (formerly PTTLLS) from Brighton City College, she is also an experienced trainer, having worked with people of many ages, skill levels and backgrounds – from a cookery club for NEET (not in education, employment or training) young people to cookery courses for older women.

Tina Horvath has always enjoyed using food to bring people together. She worked on the London restaurant scene in a variety of front of house roles for over 20 years before she set up CanTina Brighton in 2010, opening her home to create the city’s first regular supper club. Since then, CanTina has been featured, reviewed and named as one of the UK’s best supper clubs in Stylist magazine, Grazia and BBC Olive. Tina cooks for a variety of events – and most weekends she is at the stove cooking for anything from 10 to 100 diners.

Bookie Mitchell is the founder and owner of Chilli Chicks Thai cooking school. She set up the popular Street Thai restaurant, with its Thai Street food concept, in Brighton, and has many years’ experience in the hospitality industry behind her. Passionate about cooking, she learned her ways with food by watching and helping her grandmother prepare dishes – and she insists: “Thai cooking is easy, let me show you how.”

Fran Taylor, the Brighton Nutritionist, is an Association for Nutrition (AfN) registered Public Health Nutritionist who has extensive experience in children and family nutrition. She has run eating well programmes for healthy families, healthy weight workshops for new parents, fussy eating trouble shooting and works with organisations such as Albion in the Commnity to provide guidance for fuelling active kids. Fran works with groups, families and on a one-to-one basis, and she combines nutritional expertise, practical guidance and behaviour change techniques.

Kanthi Thamma was born and raised in Hyderabad, the culinary capital of southern India and is still inspired by its history, food and flavors of his childhood. It was in his mother’s kitchen where he was inspired to become a chef, a journey that has seen him travel the world in search of culinary inspiration and excellence. He opened his first restaurant, Curry Leaf Cafe, and more recently setup Easy Tiger (formerly the Hampton). He also runs gastronomic tours in the South of India as the Spice Circuit, taking groups to Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’s rich culture and cuisines.

Lerato Umah-Shaylor is a chef, cookery writer and owner of Lerato Foods & Naturals. She is best known for her vibrant feasts inspired by her African upbringing, “… memories of wood fire stews, street side roasted groundnuts and corn, ripe mangoes ready for plucking, sun-ripened tomatoes and many feasts shared with family, friends and neighbours…” After hosting cooking shows and writing for The Guardian in Nigeria, she decided to share her passion for African food at her now popular supper-clubs and cookery classes in London, Sussex and in collaborations in the UK and abroad. She has fed celebrity guests such as Lorraine Pascale and her feasts are featured in the likes of Time Out London, Evening Standard, on the BBC and more.

Caroline Whiteman has been cooking and eating vegetarian food with relish for 30 years, and sharing her enthusiasm for simple and delicious recipes for nearly a decade. Bringing a group together to prepare (and eat) their creations is one of her greatest joys. She believes that vegetarian food can taste phenomenal as well as be incredibly nutritious, and the range of local vegetarian produce inspires her recipes and menus. Her original twists and tricks make vegetarian food so delicious even the most committed carnivores won’t miss the meat.