Meet Lancashire's Curry Evangelist And Mowgli Founder, Nisha Katona

Meet Lancashire’s curry evangelist and Mowgli founder, Nisha Katona

- Emma Mayoh

‘Food was the way we won our community around,’ said Nisha Katona, founder of the hugely popular restaurant brand Mowgli. ‘I was growing up in Skelmersdale and we were the only Indians in the village. One of my earliest memories is of a brick being thrown through the window with ‘Paki’ written on it.

‘Twice a week me and my brother would have fire bombs thrown at us, they’d come over the wall. It was normal for us but it was terrifying. My mum, Meena, was a GP and she had someone shouting and throwing stones at her and then she got into work and that same person was her first patient.’

But it was food that helped her family to be accepted. Neighbours were invited over for supper and school friends, curious to know more, tucked into her mum’s recipes – while Nisha not so secretly cringed and wished they were eating English food.

‘We fed people and when you feed someone, it’s harder for them not to like you,’ said Nisha. ‘My mum is an incredible woman to be able to do that when it was such a hard situation. She’d also do it after a really long day at work.

‘She would open up Findus Crispy Pancakes and put curry sauce in them. That was how we did it. Chips had turmeric on them – at a time when Indian food was hard to get. The turmeric came from a chemist and our garlic and ginger meant a trip to Manchester. She also created these incredible Indian dishes that were just amazing. And it worked.’