Superstar Chef Kwame Onwuachi Will Speak at SXSW 2020

Today, South by Southwest (SXSW) announced that renowned chef and author Kwame Onwuachi will be delivering a keynote at the 2020 festival in Austin. The festival will take place March 13 through 22 next year.

Currently the chef of Kith and Kin in DC, Onwuachi has a lengthy culinary resume despite being only 29 years old. A New York native, he got his start at famed restaurants Per Se and Eleven Madison Park, both of which have three Michelin stars. He then appeared on the thirteenth season Top Chef, where he finished in sixth place.

In 2017, he started his own tasting menu restaurant, Shaw Bijou, which shockingly closed after less than three months. He followed this with Afro-Caribbean restaurant Kith and Kin, where he received praise for a refined approach to dishes like jollof rice and curried goat. He has also opened two locations of fast-casual restaurant Philly Wing Fry in DC. He was named Rising Star Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in May this year.

Onwuachi released a memoir in April, Notes from a Young Black Chef, describing his rise to fame, from a childhood in the Bronx to selling drugs in Connecticut to the closure of his restaurant. It’s currently being turned into a movie starring Lakeith Stanfield of the trippy hit Sorry to Bother You.

In addition to speaking at the festival, it seems likely that Onwuachi will cook at a dinner at some point, as is becoming common.

• All Coverage of South by Southwest [EATX]
• All Coverage of Kith and Kin [EDC]