Nadiya Hussain: It was considered too much when I wrote a Ramadan cookbook

Celebrity chef Nadiya Hussain has said it was considered “too much” for people when she wrote a Ramadan cookbook and she constantly has to show she is “British enough or Bangladeshi enough or Muslim enough.”

The British-Bangladeshi chef, author and TV presenter, who won the Great British Bake Off in 2015, published Rooza, which is described as a “culinary exploration of the Islamic world”, last year.

Hussain said that moment was a “turning point” in her career and added that she lost a number of brand deals the day it was announced.

She told the Press Association: “It was really interesting, because when I announced that book, I’d actually lost three brand deals that day, and that was when it was a huge turning point for me.

“It dawned on me that it dawned on everyone else that I’m actually a Muslim.

“Because up to this point, I felt like I’d done books that were for everybody.

“My Rooza book is for everybody, it’s just a little bit closer to home, as in, it’s what I experienced as a Muslim woman who cooks for her family.

“As a cook, I attached faith and food together, and the second I did that, and I lost those brand deals, I (realised) somebody’s just clocked that.

“These brands have clocked that I’m a Muslim, and that’s made them really uncomfortable.

“It just felt like, up to that point, I was the digestible version of myself for the general public.

“And the second I put food and faith together, everyone was like ‘Whoa, hold on a second. It’s a little too much for me’.

“And I thought, ‘You know what? In that case, I have not been enough’.”

Hussain, whose latest cookbook Nadiya’s Quick Comforts has just been published, added it was a “shock” when the BBC decided not to recommission her TV shows last year.

She has made a string of cooking series for the corporation, including Nadiya Bakes, Nadiya’s Time To Eat and Nadiya’s Family Favourites.

She said: “When BBC cancelled the show, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I see what’s happening’.

“And so from that point, I got rid of my management. I needed to start from scratch. I cannot become this manufactured caricature version of myself that everybody thinks is sellable as a brand.

“It’s really hard to pick a few (Muslim female chefs on TV).

“It’s hard not to feel like a token, because it’s almost like we’re allowed a certain amount of space, ’til that space no longer exists for us. When the box has been ticked.

“What I want to see going into the future is longevity. I would love to have seen myself where Mary Berry is at 85 or 90-something years old, still cooking on television.

“I would have loved to have seen that for myself, but that’s a dream that I can’t live up to because I’m not white.

“Because we don’t have longevity. I can’t even find another Muslim woman to equate myself to, or stand shoulder to shoulder with.

“There’s this show of, ‘look, we’re inclusive’, until we’re not.

“But it’s not about being inclusive in the moment. I want to be able to do this for as long as Mary (Berry) has done it. I want that longevity. I want to be able to do it for years and years, but I don’t want to be a token, but because I’m good at it, because I know my shows were amazing.”

Hussain continued: “There aren’t that many brands that want to work with me anymore because there is a version of me that just makes them uncomfortable, but that’s ok for me…because if our views don’t align, then I don’t want to work with you anyway.

“It was a huge wake-up call, and now I just work with brands and people that I want to work with, and I don’t know what that looks like in five years or 10 years from now, but for now, I can sleep at night.

“I’ll definitely make less money for it. And that is a subject that makes people really uncomfortable, because what I think lots of people don’t realise is that…I have to work 10 times harder, and I have to constantly prove my worth and to constantly be grateful.

“I have to constantly show that I’m British enough or Bangladeshi enough or Muslim enough. But that’s hard to carry all of that and to do a job and to show up bright and breezy and it’s quite a lot.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “After many wonderful series, we made the difficult decision not to commission another cookery show with Nadiya Hussain for the time being.

“We remain open to working with her in the future.”

Nadiya’s Quick Comforts by Nadiya Hussain is published in hardback by Penguin Michael Joseph.