All taste, no waste Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain talks to LAUREN TAYLOR about saving time in the kitchen and never throwing food away
MOST of us had never dreamed we would cry at a cooking show until Nadiya Hussain made that emotional victory speech on the Great British Bake Off four years ago: “I’m never gonna say, ‘I don’t think I can’. I can and I will,” she wept.
That relatable self-doubt blossoming into confidence pretty much catapulted Nadiya into national treasure status. And it’s there that she’s stayed – on TV, releasing cookbooks, children’s books and a novel, proving that yes, she really can. It’s doubly impressive because she has three young children. What’s more, in the crowded space of celebrity chefs, women of colour aren’t exactly plentiful.
“Growing up, I couldn’t pick up a novel or a cookbook or watch television and see somebody who I related to,” she says, being Lutonborn to Bangladeshi parents and Muslim. “So I think its really important that people can say, ‘Actually, she cooks just like us, she eats just like us, she represents us’. It’s saying, ‘I’m here and I can do this and anyone else can’.”
The same ethos lies behind her new cookbook too, Time To Eat. Her fourth since winning Bake Off, this no-nonsense collection of recipes shares the approach to cooking that she follows at home: Time-efficient, money-saving, and with nothing wasted.
Nadiya, 34, says her methods in the kitchen are the “only reason” she can juggle
her career with her life with three children – Musa, 12, Dawud, 11, and eight-yearold Maryam – with husband, Abdal.
From waste and timesaving recipes – think spicy scrap soup (literally made from vegetable peel) to crustless spinach quiche (because pastry takes time), – Nadiya’s new book may be practical but her food is still her own unique version of fusion, and lots of fun.
In this health conscious, mum-shaming social media age, it can feel as if we’re bombarded by a narrative of fresh, ‘natural’ food.
“I grew up in a workingclass family and we didn’t think about organic or fresh vegetables – we ate what we had! There’s nothing wrong with canned potatoes, they’re delicious!” she adds, alluding to social media backlash she received for cooking with them.
“The more you cook like this, the more you free up evenings of cooking. Which means you’ll have a week’s worth of dinners in your freezer, without even really realising it.”