Redefining Food for Tomorrow By Asma Khan & Curated by Cláudia De Brito

Asma Khan will deliver the keynote speech at What The Food 2025. She is the powerhouse behind Darjeeling Express, London’s trailblazing all-female kitchen celebrated for its soul-stirring Indian cuisine. Named TIME’s World’s 100 Most Influential in 2024, Asma is a passionate advocate for sustainable food practices and social equity, bringing a deeply human perspective to every plate. .

In her keynote, Asma explores how kitchens—both professional and personal—can become sustainable spaces that celebrate local produce and honor the often-invisible labor that nourishes us all. Drawing on her journey from home cook to global changemaker, Asma challenges audiences to reimagine leadership, legacy, and the future of food; one ingredient, one story, and one woman at a time.

Asma Khan’s Bio

Indian-born British restaurateur Asma Khan is a trailblazer in London’s culinary scene and an outspoken activist. Her Michelin Guide restaurant, Darjeeling Express, known for its revolutionary all-female kitchen has become a favourite of Hollywood A-listers while remaining a safe space for women. Through authentic, homestyle food, it has risen to the upper echelons of the food world while staying true to Khan’s commitment to grassroots social and environmental causes.

In 2024, TIME magazine named her one of the world’s 100 most influential people. She is a chef advocate for the UN World Food Programme and holds honorary fellowships from Queen’s College, Oxford, and King’s College London, where she earned a PhD in British Constitutional Law.

Khan was the first British chef on Netflix’s Chef’s Table and has appeared on Celebrity MasterChef and Top Chef. Her third cookbook, Monsoon, celebrates seasonal Indian home cooking. In 2025, she hosts the 10-episode series ‘Secrets of the Curry Kitchen’ on the Food

Network and become the first patron of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, championing food justice.

Curator Bio

Cláudia De Brito, born to Portuguese-Cape Verdean parents in Singapore, raised in Dubai and educated in London, Claudia has covered hospitality and travel for nearly two decades as the editor of several publications including Caterer Middle East and Hotelier Middle East and as a contributor to Condé Nast Traveller Middle East, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and Hotel & Catering News. In 2021, she was appointed Gulf Academy chair for MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants and is the Middle East Academy Vice Chair for World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Claudia is a freelance journalist, content creator, curator and hospitality consultant based in Dubai.

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