Redbridge mum-of-four cooks up ideas for healthy halal book

A woman who said she “never had the courage to publish anything” she wrote is going to have her debut book showcased at an international book fair next year.

Mother-of-four Nazia Ali has written a life style cooking book which takes a holistic approach to healthy eating.

Although she has written poetry from a young age, as well as completing a yet unseen novel, she said she did not feel ready to publish her work.

She has now published her book called Healthy and Halal Choice which will be presented at the Frankfurt International Book Fair in 2013.

Mrs Ali, 35, of Redbridge said: “I thought I would make an information book about an issue that my family and friends have problems with. They are going down the wrong route so I write about my experience.”

The book covers a variety of topics all aiming to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle.

“I wrote this book as a simple woman, as a wife and a mother, it’s a mother sharing my life style with the world in the hope that I might make a little difference,” she said.

Mrs Ali said the idea came from working with lots of doctors and members of the Asian community in her work as a translator

“I wrote about my experience and my route which might help them. It’s for everybody of all faiths to read,” she said. “I try and encourage people to cook their own food and grow their own organic vegetables.”

The book took her about a year and a half to write which she squeezed in between working full time, doing voluntary work and being a mother.

She said: “It takes quite a long time and there’re lots of dishes so I had to make them and take pictures, it’s not as easy process.”

She now plans to get her novel published and has already decided her next project will be a cookery book about celebration food.