Meet the chefs

Jethro Carr

Jethro Carr is a Cookery Leader at our Community Kitchen & 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.

Kanthi Thamma

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 setup successful local restaurants, Curry Leaf Cafe and Easy Tiger, Palmito and his most recent venture The Spice Circuit Kitchen. He also runs gastronomic tours in the South of India & Sri Lanka as the Spice Circuit, taking groups to Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’s rich culture and cuisines. Read about his food adventures on his website Kanthi Thamma – The Travelling Chef

Diego Ricaurte

Diego Ricaurte grew up in Ecuador and has travelled extensively around Latin America and the Mediterranean. He has over 10 years experience as a professional chef, working mostly in London and Greece. His approach to cooking is nose to tail with as little wastage as possible using meat that is rare breed and fish that is sustainable.

His most recent venture is Michelin Guide 2025 restaurant Palmito, a tiny kitchen with a daily menu using seasonal local ingredients and far-flung flavours in Hove. Palmito was awarded a Bib Gourmand by the Michelin Guide, for good quality, good value cooking, and was recently included in The Good Food Guide’s 100 best local restaurants.

Lerato Umah-Shaylor

Lerato Umah-Shaylor , author of the Africana cookbook, TV chef and Radio 4 ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ panel member brings African cuisine to a global table and the Community Kitchen. Lerato’s recipes are vibrant, as are her immersive supper clubs and masterclasses.

Lerato previously founded a cookery school to educate and inspire cooks to try the glorious foods of the African continent at home. Her unique style of marrying cultures has attracted food lovers and celebrity guests alike to her table.

Sally

Sally began her baking career at the esteemed London bakery Crumbs & Doilies 15 years ago, creating delicious treats that gained huge acclaim through their online presence. Sally has also been a fixture on the company’s hugely successful YouTube channel Cupcake Jemma, where she creates fool-proof recipe videos every week with her 2 co-hosts. For the last 2 years Sally has been teaching baking and cake decorating classes to the public and loves nothing more than bringing people together in a safe and inclusive environment to share her experience and help others to learn new skills.

Brigi Stamber

With a decade of experience in pizza kitchens, Brigi Stamber brings creativity and passion to all things pizza and is currently based at local pizzeria Pizzaface. She is a multi award winning chef winning the 2023 Pizza Chef of the Year PAPA UK and 2024 Pizza Chef of the Year at the National Pizza Awards. She loves working in pizza kitchens and enjoy putting a twist on a classic, including a Sri Lankan inspired pizza, in collaboration with Community Kitchen Favourite Chef Kanthi.

Brigi loves to create bold and innovative veggie and vegan pizzas utilising both traditional and new ingredients.

Cat Rochefort

Having previously worked at Plateau and Kindling, Cat Rochefort is now a Cookery Leader at our Community Kitchen. She is a specialist in cooking over fire and finds her inspiration in nature, using foraged and seasonal ingredients to create beautiful dishes. Cat loves to bring the Sussex seaside to her plates by using local fish and seafood in her menus. She can also be found grilling at Hunter Gather Cook foraging school and teaching at Abinger Cookery School in Surrey.

Marnie Charlton

Specialising in bread, Marnie Charlton’s baking journey has seen her produce and develop a range of loaves for London bakeries including Cooper’s Bakehouse and Boulangerie Jade. From sourdough to baguettes she enjoys demystifying the process of baking with a playful attitude, creating an accessible space where everyone can enjoy the pleasure of a homemade loaf. Her move from commercial production to teaching comes with a passion for baking as a mindful practice, grounded in the belief that hand-making has a transformative power.

Emily

Emily’s first words were ‘that’s my chocolate’ and it’s been a love story ever since. From working in hospitality and events management, to training at the Chocolate Academy in Oxford, Emily has been working with chocolate for almost 10 years now.

With a passion for the social, economic and anthropological history of cacao, Emily loves to share knowledge and passion for this fascinating subject. The use of authentic and traditional chocolate making methods and the (very) nerdy science behind tempering and moulding are all included in training workshops from Emily’s small craft chocolate business, Cocoa Crystal. 

Kat Kocsis

Kat Kocsis, is a food scientist with a passion for ferments, food waste, foraging and all things bubbly. Initially a professional chef, her 10+ year career took her all around the world from Copenhagen to Guadalajara, with a stop at 3 Michelin star restaurant Noma. Though after travelling Japan she has now turned her attention to the microbial world of fermentation. During her time there she learned all there is to know about koji and miso from moulds to enzymes to amino acids and carbohydrates.

You’ll typically find her in her home lab nurturing one of the 100 or so ferments at any one time, figuring out new flavour combinations and ways of incorporating by-products to further reduce food waste.

Kirna

Kirna was raised in North London and is an experienced, traditional cook. She has been teaching Indian Cookery for several years. Her recipes are based on the delicious cuisine of Gujarati, Parsi and East African origin, and are dishes you would find in most Indian homes.

Indian cookery utilises so many different spices which can seem daunting. During your lesson, Kirna will explain and show you, how to use the wide variety of spices and guide you through each recipe. By the end of your lesson, you will create some delicious, authentic Indian dishes and you will have the confidence to recreate them at home

Xav

Xav’s background is a beautiful mix of Mexican and Catalan, his parents and grandparents introduced him to all sorts of wonderful food from an early age and later he learned the importance of food and its heavy influence in both cultures. This led to a career in the catering industry on graduating from culinary school, working as a chef for a while and then becoming a sommelier. He worked in fine dining venues for over 10 years in Europe and America until he decided to move on and commit to his photography. He is now Creative Director of Viva La Vida Creative transforming food brands with bold ideas and imagery.

Eloise

Eloise started her career training in some of the UK’s tops restaurants. This training took her around the world, continuing to work in restaurants but also luxury chalets, villas,  yachts and private residencies. She currently splits her time between ‘Chef Academy’ where she delivers skills workshops to apprentice chefs, as well as serving up delicious and sustainable private dinners, showcasing beautiful produce from local suppliers

Tina

Tina is chef and owner of Cantina Brighton, a catering business specialising in small bespoke events. She started her business in Brighton in 2011 by opening the doors of her home and creating Brighton’s first and longest running supper club.  She likes to cook with vegetables, fish, loads of herbs and spices and loves food that is vibrant, full of freshness; food that seems awake with big flavours and lots of zing. Tina has recently been travelling and working as a private chef but is very glad to be back in Brighton. You will find her cooking on wellness retreats, offering delivery dinners and hosting the occasional pop up supper clubs.

Nigora

Keen home cook and baker Nigora, grew up learning dishes from her mother and grandmother in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She loves to share her joy for cooking with others, and particularly to bring Uzbek food to new people.

During one of their lessons you will work in pairs as you learn to cook traditional dishes from Uzbekistan – taste and learn how the nation’s food has been influenced by many cultures from China to Turkey to Russia or even Korea.