Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey
Bake Off champ Nadiya Hussain on exploring Thai, cambodian and Nepalese cuisine…
MONDAY / BBC1 Fermented fish paste, anyone? Or perhaps some ant larvae caviar? These are two of the unusual delicacies that Bake Off champ Nadiya Hussain samples as she tours Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal in this two-part travelogue. In an exclusive interview, Nadiya reveals why this trip meant so much to her…
Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey monday / bbc1 / 9Pm (TIMES VARY)
Nadiya Hussain has come a long way since lifting The Great British Bake Off trophy in 2015. She’s judged its junior spin-off, fronted numerous BBC culinary series, baked the Queen’s 90th birthday cake, and (somehow) found time to write a handful of recipe books, plus a debut novel!
However, there’s one thing Nadiya feels she hasn’t done enough of in her life – travel. So she’s delighted that for a new two-part BBC1 series, Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey, she gets to explore the culture, countryside and food of Cambodia, Thailand and Nepal after making a surprising discovery about her heritage…
‘I’m one of six children and I was curious as to why we all look so different,’ says Nadiya, 33, who grew up in Luton. ‘So I did a DNA test and it turns out I’m part Thai, part Cambodian and part Nepalese. It made me want to discover these countries and make a connection with them through their food.’
In an exclusive interview with TV Times, Nadiya tells us more…
You say you haven’t travelled much until now, so were you nervous about this trip?
I was! But to do a show like this is a complete privilege for me. The world is there to be experienced, and I hope people will watch this and think, ‘If an average girl from
Luton can do this, then I can, too!’
It’s also the longest you’ve been away from your family… In total I was away from the kids [sons Musa and Dawud and daughter Maryam] for just over four weeks. My kids are my life, my entire world revolves around them, so leaving them behind was the hardest thing.
What dishes stood out for you in each country?
The flavours of Thailand are just amazing. It’s simple things like eating banana flowers with your pad thai. In Cambodia there’s prahok, which is fermented salted fish. I ate that during my childhood summers living with family in Bangladesh, so for me that was the smell of home. The lentils and rice in Nepal were the best I’d ever eaten.
The ant larvae caviar I tried was disgusting!
Did you discover any foods that you hadn’t encountered before? The insects in Thailand! These were like proper insects with legs, eyes and antennae! I thought, ‘I’m here for the experience and I’m not going to shy away from anything,’ so I ate them – but I have to say the ant larvae caviar I tried was disgusting! I also ate silk worms, which were crunchy on the outside but gooey in the middle, and crickets, which were actually delicious!
What tips did you pick up that you’ll use in your cooking?
I learned how to make a Thai curry paste and I’ve taught my children to make it, too. We live in a society where things can easily come out of a jar but over there everything is made from scratch and it tastes so much better.
Did you feel a connection with any of the places you visited? Cambodia was quite emotional for me. It felt a lot like Bangladesh – the smells, the sounds and the peace. When I saw some buffalo they reminded me of my grandad, who was a buffalo farmer right up until he died. I sensed him watching me and looking after me, and nothing can take away that moment for me.