Meet Nawida

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nawida grew up watching her mother and grandmother cook for the family, which included four sisters, a brother, and her father, a general in the Afghan army. After she got married, she moved to Pakistan to live with her mother-in-law’s family, where she was responsible for cooking three elaborate meals a day for a household of thirty-five people—plus the four or five guests who were typically present at any meal. 

After briefly living in Russia with her husband, she came to the United States with her son Bahram in 2010, when he was just five years old. Nawida is now re-married to an Indian man (she loves to cook Indian food, too), and they have two young children—Sanam and Abram. 

There is nothing in the world more important to Nawida than her children’s education, and she also loves the independence and freedom she has found in the United States. She recently trained to become a barber and is hoping to open her own shop!

Nawida’s story and her delicious Afghan recipes have been featured by WNYC, Taste, The Chew, Saveur, Travel + Leisure, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Marie Claire, The New York Times, and NY Daily News.