Despite being piled high with ‘melting pot’ metaphors, this travelogue on the vibrant, immigrant-inspired food culture of the US finds the eminently likable Bake Off winner on top form
The “melting pot” metaphor for immigration has worked hard in Nadiya’s American Adventure (BBC One), a two-parter hosted by Nadiya Hussain. As the introductory voiceover notes, the US is “home to the highest immigrant population in the world”. Similarly, when Hussain, a hijab-wearing Muslim woman from Luton, won The Great British Bake Off in 2015 it was hailed as a win for British multiculturalism.
Hussain has since established herself as the nation’s sweet-toothed sweetheart with a string of cookery series (Nadiya’s Time to Eat; Nadiya Bakes, Nadiya’s Family Favourites) and some culinary-themed travelogues (Nadiya’s British Food Adventure; Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey). Yet none has showcased her specific combination of guileless charm and British Asian backstory quite so successfully as this one, a food-culture story to which only Nadiya could truly do justice.
