Elijah Quashie (born 28 May 1993 in Enfield, London), also known as The Chicken Connoisseur or The CNSR (screen name), is an

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

and fried chicken restaurant

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

, known for his viral YouTube video series ''The Pengest Munch''.

Career

Quashie started his YouTube channel ''The Pengest Munch'' in August 2015, inspired by

Gregg Wallace Gregg Allan Wallace (born 17 October 1964) is an English broadcaster, entrepreneur, media personality, writer and former greengrocer. He is known for co-presenting ''MasterChef'', ''Celebrity MasterChef'' and '' MasterChef: The Professionals'', ...

of television series '' MasterChef'', produced by film maker Elishama Udorok. Until December 2016, Quashie's videos had around 700 views each, with a total of 150 subscribers. The videos involve Quashie visiting, critiquing and rating chicken shops around London. ''The Pengest Munch'' went viral on 9 December, with coverage from ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' and ''

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'' and support from John Boyega and

Graham Linehan Graham Linehan () (born 22 May 1968) is an Irish television writer and anti-transgender activist. He created or co-created the sitcoms ''Father Ted'' (1995–1998), ''Black Books'' (2000–2004) and '' The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013). He has also ...

. ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'' cited "stunning insight, humour and style" as the reasons behind his success. Another focus of the coverage has been the use of slang in the videos; ''The Huffington Post'' has been criticised for suggesting that in these videos "the slang of working class black kids is beyond normal comprehension". He appeared on

ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is tra ...

on 13 December, and released a new episode to YouTube on 16 December. In December 2016, he established Chicken Connoisseur Ltd and in April 2017 it was announced that he would be writing a book entitled ''The Pengest Munch: In Search of the Nation's 50 Favourite Chicken Establishments'', published by Blink Publishing. It was announced in October 2017 that Quashie would star in a new

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

television show entitled ''The Peng Life''. The programme started in August 2018 and featured four episodes. In January 2021, Quashie renamed his channel to ''The CNSR''.

Controversy

In January 2017, Quashie came under criticism after he featured Taylor Harris (stage name 'Bonkaz') rapping in one of his YouTube videos. Harris was previously convicted of groping a 13-year-old girl in 2010. Harris was also jailed for three years in 2011 for his part in a kidnapping and torture of a 22-year-old disabled man.

Personal life

Quashie lives in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

in North London. Following his rise to fame, many people speculated about his age due to his youthful appearance. Quashie confirmed his age as 23 (as of December 2016) in a tweet he swiftly deleted. This is corroborated by a number of government records stating his date of birth as May 1993. Quashie has also said that he is not interested in discussing his age. Quashie is also an

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

fan, stating it in his YouTube videos and interviews since his rise to prominence. Quashie is also a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

. In May 2017, Quashie endorsed Labour Party leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

in the

2017 UK general election The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing C ...

. During an interview with ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'' he said: "he's one of the few people who make sense".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicken Connoisseur, The 1993 births Living people British Internet celebrities British restaurant critics People from Enfield, London English people of Jamaican descent English Latter Day Saints YouTubers from London 21st-century Black British people Black British writers 21st-century British journalists