Karan Gokani, Hoppers, and Sana Javeri Kadri, Diaspora Co.

Saturday, February 25, 2023, 11:00 am - 11:45 pm

Stop by the Foodwise Classroom for a cooking demo featuring the seasonal bounty of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and spices from Diaspora Co. Karan Gokani, author of the cookbook Hoppers, will be in conversation with Sana Javeri Kadri, founder of Diaspora Co.

Karan Gokani, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Hoppers

Karan grew up in Mumbai and moved to England in 2005 to study law at the University of Cambridge. Even as a practicing solicitor, Karan’s passion for food and hospitality never faded and he spent time in professional kitchens in his spare time. In 2012, he left his legal career at a city law firm to pursue a career in hospitality, traveling across India and Sri Lanka prolifically to immerse himself in the food and culture of the countries. In 2015, JKS Restaurants and Karan opened Hoppers, a Sri Lankan and south Indian restaurant on Frith Street, Soho. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2017 alongside a number of other prestigious awards. Hoppers has been hailed as one of the first restaurants to make Sri Lankan food accessible in central London. A second Hoppers followed in Marylebone in 2017 and a third in King’s Cross in 2020.Karan’s debut book, Hoppers: The Cookbook from the Cult London Restaurant tells a personal story of the inspiration behind Hoppers and the people and places that shaped it, via recipes and stunning imagery.

Sana Javeri Kadri, Founder/CEO, Diaspora Co.

Sana Javeri Kadri (she/her) is the founder of Diaspora Co., a direct trade spice company working towards a radically equitable, sustainable, and more delicious spice supply chain. Sana was born and raised in Mumbai, India in a big, mixed-up Muslim-Jain-Hindu family assembled from every corner of the country where food was the common denominator and what brought them all together. She’s been working in the food industry since she was a teenager, and has dipped her toes in every facet of the food industry from line cook to farmworker, to food photographer, to marketing consultant, to CSA manager, to spice CEO. She founded Diaspora Co. in 2017 with a big vision and a very small budget ($3K!). It has quickly grown (20x since 2018!) to become a nationally acclaimed, beloved spice brand that champions more than 150 regenerative family farms and 1200+ farmworkers. Diaspora aims to set a new standard for what equity and culture in our global food system can look like. Sana currently lives between Mumbai, India, and Oakland, California.

All demos take place in the Foodwise Classroom (under the tents in front of the Ferry Building) and are free to the public, with recipes and samples for all.