Nadiya Hussain: my BBC exit, Islamophobia and new grocery ranges

Today, she’s facing another seismic change. After presenting a run of cookery shows for the BBC over the past 10 years, Hussain announced in June her contract had been terminated.

“It was a huge blow,” she admits, sipping tea. “And it was even harder because there were lots of excuses being made.” According to Hussain, her most recent show, Cook Once Eat Twice, had done “really well”.

“I thought I was building almost a family environment, where I was at home at the BBC… that was so naïve,” she reflects. But Hussain isn’t contemplating defeat. Instead, she’s using the “huge turning point” in her career to weigh up what she’d like to do differently.

“I hadn’t realised how much time I’d spent away from home until only very recently,” she says. “My son turned 18 last year, and I’m looking at the pictures saying: ‘Oh, where was that?’ I realised I’d missed these huge chunks of their lives.”

Most recently, Hussain has used her sizeable platform to talk about her experience as a British-Bangladeshi Muslim. She released a Ramadan cookbook, Rooza, in January – marketed as “a joyous and explorative journey through Muslim cuisine”.

 For all its positive associations, Hussain pinpoints the book as the moment when opportunities began to dwindle. Rooza took “many, many years” to come to fruition, Hussain says, due to the hesitancy of her publisher around writing something explicitly linked to her faith. Unfortunately, their fears came to pass. Hussain says she lost 1,000 Instagram followers within 15 hours of announcing the book’s release.

“When I put faith and food together, I think it unnerved a lot of people,” she explains. “And that very day I lost a big contract.” While Hussain keeps tight-lipped on the details, she reflects that “up to that point, I felt like a very manufactured version of a Muslim”.

“I feel like I just made myself so digestible, so easy and comfortable, for the general public. But as soon as I wrote Rooza, I think it dawned on certain people: ‘Oh, my goodness, she’s a Muslim.’”

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Hussain has become more outspoken about her experiences of racism and Islamophobia. “I’m getting really bored of letting it go,” she says. Speaking recently on the We Need to Talk podcast, she recalled how the presenters of a “very big breakfast show” mocked a recipe from her cookbook, by changing the name of her ‘chaat in a bag’ dish to ‘shat in a bag’.

“I found that really distasteful and really hateful,” she told the podcast’s host, Paul Brunson. “And they refused to apologise.”

Hussain attributes some situations she’s encountered to the lack of diversity on mainstream TV. This is why diversity, equity and inclusion shouldn’t simply be “seen as a tick-box exercise”, says Hussain. “I just don’t want to feel othered any more.”

‘Proper’ world food

At the same time, Hussain is pleased to see mainstream British shoppers becoming more adventurous. The world food section of the supermarkets has finally become “a proper aisle”, she notes.

“In particular, Asda is doing really well with its world food aisle,” says Hussain. “It covers south east Asian, African, Polish… lots of different places. That’s lovely to see, because you’re not just seeing ethnic minorities in the aisle, you’re seeing [white] English people too.”

And for those who are less confident in the kitchen, Hussain is hoping her growing grocery range will “provide inspiration”. She teamed up with Schwartz to add a range of recipe kits, mixes and seasonings in 2023. More products joined the Nadiya range in 2024, including a Curry Ketchup and Zingy Katsu Burger Recipe Kit.

In June, Hussain teamed up with Finsbury Food Group to launch a range of cakes into Tesco, including Bazillionaire Brookies, Spiced Cherry Bakewell Loaf and Aromatic Spiced Banana Caramel Loaf.

It was a “lovely collaboration”, says Hussain, involving “lots of playing with sprinkles, jotting down different ideas, going back to the drawing board”, as well as discussions around costing, which were “a huge learning curve for me”, she admits.

Looking to the future, Hussain would “absolutely” like to expand her Nadiya brand into new categories. However, she will be selective about the companies she works with. “Sometimes you get a feel for who you’re working with, how enthusiastic they are and what they want to do. There are brands that have their own blueprint… it doesn’t feel collaborative.”

Additional collaborations are in the works, but “none that I can talk about” just yet.

One thing is clear: Hussain isn’t interested in making people feel “comfortable” any more, and standing up for what she believes in is more important than ever. “I’ve stepped into truth and authenticity… and I’ve had brands come forward who do want to work with me, and that’s refreshing.”