‘I do have moments of quiet, often when I’m on my walk, when I think, “Wow life has changed so much”. Especially now, when I’m wearing a mask and I’m in a supermarket and people [still] recognize me. This man, about 80, said, “I know those eyes anywhere!” It’s moments like that make me pinch myself and think, ‘How did that even happen?’
If five years on from winning the Great British Bake Off, Nadiya Hussain still has ‘pinch me’ moments, how must {WINNER} be feeling as the dust starts to settle on their tent victory? If their career looks half as promising as Nadiya’s, they’ll likely be thrilled.
Now a well-established cookery star known just by her first name (like Nigella, for instance), Nadiya is fronting a new BBC documentary, travelling to North America to discover how migrants have influenced the modern cuisine. It’s a personal journey for Nadiya, who meets families keeping alive memories of their homeland through food, just like her parents did when they moved to the UK.
To see her open up and speak so personally and confidently with her own agenda is a world away from the nervous home-baker who appeared in the tent in 2015 and, she’s openly admitted, struggled with her mental health.
‘As a first generation British and growing up in an immigrant household, I grew up with the best of both,’ says Nadiya, explaining why she was so interested in the subject. ‘I could be British and be Bangladeshi. I think that’s a privilege and something my parents couldn’t necessarily appreciate. They were immigrants, so they worked really hard just to survive and sustain us and sustain a life and have bits of home where they could… They can’t bring their country so all immigrants have is their food.’
But when it comes to whether that food brings about integration, Nadiya isn’t so sure. ‘We can exist and find joy in co-existing and mixing with one another, without one group of people having to integrate into the society they’ve chosen to live in. The truth is, you see British people who move to hotter, sunnier countries, but they don’t get called immigrants, they get called ex-pats and create their own little communities. So it does happen. I think when that barrier is put up, often it’s food that breaks that barrier, because as soon as you get a taste of food from another culture, you’re slightly more interested– you’re curious.’
When it comes to advice for the new Bake Off winner though, it’s that Bangladeshi family that has kept her grounded. ‘To my mum, my job is nothing but a job. She doesn’t care what I do, she doesn’t watch anything I make, read anything that I write. That’s humbling to be able to go to my mum’s house and she’ll say, “Oh, can you just do the hoovering for me?” and nothing’s changed.’
This year contestant Laura Adlington was attacked by internet trolls for reaching the Bake Off final ahead of Hermine – something Nadiya is well placed to give advice on surviving. ‘Ultimately, there’s a naivety that comes with doing a TV show like Bake Off, because you almost forget millions of people are going to watch it and everyone has an opinion,’ she says. ‘I was ingesting all of that information and allowing it to sit heavy on my heart and now I’ve decided, I am the controller of the content I ingest. I would sometimes find myself looking for all of that – looking to find the negative comments.
‘For someone like Laura, I’d say, “It’s never going to stop, you are always gonna be criticized, but you can choose whether you consume that and if you consume that, it will harm you. You are doing an amazing job”. I wouldn’t let the tiny minority of negative people get to her. She should keep her head up.’
And when it’s come to keeping her own head up this year, Nadiya – who admits her circle and family and friends have been touched by covid - has one simple rule. ‘What I’ve found has been really helpful is just express that you’re sad. I was trying so hard to block out the fact that I was so sad and that I was so shocked by what’s happening, and going the other way and I was trying way too positive and it all felt like an act, it didn’t feel real. So I said to my kids, when we feel sad, we should just say we’re sad, we should say we’re not coping, that we’re not well, that we don’t want to do anything today. I think that’s been one of the most helpful things for us as a family.’
CREDIT: Nadiya’s American Adventurestarts 10th December on BBC One