Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey
December BBC One Nadiya Hussain was born and raised in Britain, but has strong family ties to Bangladesh. When she took a DNA test, she was surprised to find that her heritage also encompasses Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. Armed with this information, the Great British Bake Off winner decides to leave the cold of Milton Keynes – and the warmth of family life – for a trip to Asia to explore these roots for a two-part series from Who Do You Think You Are? producers Wall to Wall that brings together cookery, travel and genealogy.
“It’s not a package holiday,” she says – and with enough of a hint of nervousness to suggest that, deep down, she might be happier if she was heading off for a fortnight in Spain rather than South-East Asia.
As you might expect, it’s food that provides the primary linking theme. In particular, in the first show Nadiya is fascinated by the parallels between the regional dishes of the countries she visits and the food she grew up eating. In Cambodia, for example, she learns how to make palm sugar, a labour-intensive process that begins with harvesting sap. The buttery rich sugar is a staple in the country, yet also an ingredient that Nadiya has used all of her life.
At other times, dishes are definitely entirely new to her. In Thailand, she helps a women-only cooperative to make a curry paste that’s unique to the island of Koh Sukorn, while in Bangkok she makes insectbased crisps with one of the city’s top chefs.
Throughout, Nadiya highlights parallels between life in the rural communities she visits and life in Bangladesh, which helps a nervous traveller – especially when she has to board a light aircraft in Nepal – to find a sense of connection to places that she’s never visited before.