Skip to main content Skip to footer

Simran Sethi

Fellow

Simran Sethi portrait

Simran Sethi is a multimedia journalist, academic, and public speaker who is endlessly curious about food, agriculture, and stories beyond the plate.

Named one of the “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by Vogue India and the “environmental messenger” by Vanity Fair, Simran has written for outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Guernica, and The Guardian. She is the author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love — named one of the best food books of 2016 by Smithsonian — about the loss of agricultural biodiversity told through the lens of flavor. She is the contributing author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, winner of a 2008 Axiom Award for Best Business Ethics Book.

Simran is the creator of The Slow Melt, the first podcast on the cultural, economic, and environmental stories behind chocolate and the winner of the 2017 SAVEUR award for Best Food Podcast. She is also a contributor to the National Public Radio program Good Food, and was one of the first inductees into Heritage Radio Network’s Hall of Fame.

Simran serves as summer faculty in Italy at John Cabot University in Rome and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo where she teaches courses on food writing and communication of sustainability and food sovereignty. She is a former visiting scholar at the Cocoa Research Centre, based at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad, and the former environmental correspondent for NBC News, which included contributions to CNBC, MSNBC, and Nightly News. Simran has produced environmental programming for PBS and Sundance Channel, and was the host of the EMMY Award-winning documentary A School in the Woods. She holds an M.B.A. in sustainable business from the Presidio Graduate School and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in sociology and women’s studies from Smith College. In 2009, the College awarded her the Smith College Medal.