A Film Adaptation Based On Nigerian-Jamaican Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s Memoir Starring Lakeith Stanfield Is In The Works

The Film will take us through the journey of Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir, from his childhood living in the Bronx with his mother to starting a dining restaurant at just 26-years-old.

In between, we learned in a 2018 interview that his mother sent him to Delta State in Nigeria where he was asked to live with his grandfather, there, he learned how to whip up traditional Nigerian food at 12, which had him hooked.

“I hope that people can feel the soul behind my cooking and dishes, My menu is honestly a correlation of autobiographical anecdotes.”

Kwame Onwuachi

The story covers the highs and lows of his path to becoming a chef in a mostly white, elitist industry, including financing his first catering business by selling candy on the subway, appearing on ‘Top Chef,’ and his first restaurant, Shaw Bijou in D.C., closing just 11 weeks after its opening.

Though there has not been an announced director named for the film, Stephen “Dr” Love will produce with Stanfield and Colin Stark as its executive producers.

Co-written with Joshua David Stein, Notes From a Young Black Chef, has been picked up by A24 and will be adapted into a feature film which will also feature Lakeith Stanfield.