I am an Afghan-American born in Berkeley and raised in the East Bay in California. My father, Mohammed Hasan Nusratty, immigrated from Afghanistan to the United States in the late 1950s to attend the University of California at Berkeley. He opened America’s first Afghan restaurant, the Khyber Pass, in Oakland, California in 1968. My father’s love for his homeland was indelibly passed on to me, my
mother, and my siblings. It shaped my family’s passion for food, hospitality, family, friends, and our general merrymaking ways. During my 30s, I owned and ran the Flower Street Café, in Kabul, Afghanistan, which was an American-style eatery / coffee shop that served breakfast and lunch at three locations around the city. My father moved the US to attend Berkeley, and there he met my American mother, who was also at Cal. Though deeply appreciating and respecting the US, he always remained devoted to his beloved Afghanistan and its memories. He succeeded in passing this love and appreciation to his children, all of whom were to live in Afghanistan during the decade after 9/11 to help in the rebuilding process, as well as to his many non-Afghan friends around the world. He also kept Afghanistan alive for his many relatives who had fled Afghanistan as refugees when they were too young to remember or had forgotten many of the happier earlier memories due to the traumas of their departure and forced migration. This appreciation for Afghanistan was conveyed to the world in many ways culturally, but without a doubt in most part with his restaurant, The Khyber Pass Restaurant, which was the first Afghan restaurant in the US. The Khyber Pass became a mecca for the foodies, hippies and those who were just curious to understand more about this far off land. Famous chefs, critics and celebrities dined within its well-adorned walls. The restaurant also became a shelter in the storm for Afghans who chose to flee their country during the difficult years to follow. The quality of the cuisine, the selection of wines from Northern California’s then burgeoning wine industry, the décor, and the entertainment (live Afghan music and belly dancing (not an Afghan dance form but popular at the time!)) made for an unforgettably excellent experience for all of his patrons. My father’s immigrant story to America, and my move to Afghanistan, were starkly different, I moved to Kabul, Afghanistan from 2005 to 2010 to help support the country’s post 9/11 development efforts. I had never stepped foot in Afghanistan despite a life of cultural, and above all culinary, exposure and appreciation. From when I was very little, when the Soviet-Afghan War erupted, Afghanistan was always off limits. A veritable no-go zone, shrouded in conflict, hardship, and tragedy. That would all change with 9/11. With the world’s attention fully on Afghanistan and the (generally) united intention to liberate and develop the country, I finally had the opportunity to travel to my father’s homeland. (And, for my father, he would finally have the chance to return after being away for 50 years.) Food remained the principal means by which I explored and discovered my father’s homeland, whether it was the fresh naan baked in the neighborhood tandoor, the grilled kebabs sizzling in the local market, the melons, the pomegranate juice, or the sweet chai. I finally had the opportunity to do a deeper dive into Afghan culture, and particularly Afghan food, that I had been waiting for my entire life. And it is this culinary journey that I want to share with you. Along with influences from my childhood growing up in California, the years I lived in NYC, lived and traveled throughout Italy and France, my extensive work and travel in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas, and my settling in Britain (with my British wife and two daughters). For me food evolves. I take inspiration, ingredients and ideas from the many different culinary traditions I have been exposed to, and I attempt to roll and fold them up, like the carpets and tapestries I used to buy and sell, long before I became a lawyer. Food breathes history, but also life. I live to eat always! I hope you will discover a modicum of the joy and deliciousness in my posts that I have experienced during my life’s culinary journey so far. Noshe Jaan and Enjoy!
