Nisha Katona

Hello and welcome to a brand new season of The Travel Diaries. It’s great to be back!

I couldn’t think of a more joyful guest to kick off the season than Nisha Katona. A former child protection barrister turned restaurateur, food writer and TV presenter, Nisha is the founder of the hugely successful Mowgli Street Food restaurants, the author of several cookbooks, including her newest release, The Curry Bible, and was a judge on the BBC’s Great British Menu. 

In this episode, Nisha describes herself as a “culinary evangelist and anthropologist”, and food is the thread running through her extraordinary Travel Diaries. We journey from childhood holidays in Mallorca and the tastes that first awakened her curiosity, to Beijing, her ancestral home of Varanasi, the temples and night markets of Cambodia, and her love for the Amalfi Coast.

Our conversation travelled far beyond holidays, taking in family, identity, faith, grief and the ways in which travel helps us understand both the world and ourselves.

Destination Recap:

• Mallorca, Spain
• Taunus Therme, Bad Homburg, Germany
• Beijing, China
• Forbidden City, Beijing, China
• Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
• River Ganges, Varanasi, India
• Siem Reap, Cambodia
• Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia
• Jeju Island, South Korea
• Amalfi Coast, Campania, Italy
• Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy
• Pompeii, Campania, Italy
• Herculaneum, Campania, Italy
• Parco dei Principi, Sorrento, Italy
• Positano, Campania, Italy
• Ravello, Campania, Italy
• Capri, Campania, Italy
• Lloret de Mar, Catalonia, Spain
• Blanes, Catalonia, Spain
• Ibiza, Spain
• China
• Jerusalem, Israel

Nisha's fabulous new book, The Curry Bible, is out now. 

Today’s conversation was filmed earlier this summer at the beautiful London Marriott Hotel County Hall, in the most spectacular room - The Big Ben Balcony Suite - overlooking the Thames and the Houses of Parliament.

I’ll be back on Sunday with our first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked with travel editor John O'Ceallaigh.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you. 

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

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