WHEN Sumayya Usmani first moved to London from her native Pakistan in 2006, one of the things that helped her settle in her new home was the food of her old one.

“Because I’d grown up in a home where food played such a big part, I really missed the flavour of home, and my mother’s cooking,” she says. “I just missed that experience of those aromas.

“I’ve always cooked, so it was easy for me to recreate them." , but if I ever didn’t feel like cooking, and went out [to a restaurant], I would never taste those flavours – I would always taste something else that was completely different. It would be hot, it would be spicy, but it wouldn’t be that flavour that I remembered."

Over the generations, countless immigrants arriving in Scotland have felt exactly the same way. As they settled into their unfamiliar surroundings, with its unfamiliar culture, unfamiliar weather and unfamiliar local accent, they couldn’t help but cook the meals the way they remembered from home, for comfort and reassurance.

And in many cases, that dedicated approach began to seep into the way of life of native Scots: cafes and restaurants and takeaways were established, and thrived. Today, many of their offerings have become an indispensable part of Scotland’s cuisine. Where would we be, for example, without chicken tikka masala, or spaghetti carbonara, or chicken chow mein, or Thai green curry?

All of which is going to find its way into Usmani’s new column for the Sunday Herald Life magazine, which begins today. The enterprising idea for it came from Usmani herself. A recognised expert on the cuisine of her homeland, she has authored two well-received cookery books – Summers Under The Tamarind Tree and Mountain Berries And Desert Spice (both of which have featured in the Sunday Herald), and she also presents BBC Kitchen Cafe on BBC Radio Scotland.

“There are so many interesting flavours that have seeped through in Scotland,” she says, “but no-one ever really talks about how or why they came here, and what has made them such an integral part of Scottish food. So, for example, you have the Asians, the Chinese, the Italians, the Polish.

“Living in London,” she adds, “you see this sort of thing anyway, but you see it in a very different way. It’s all there: there are Chinese restaurants, Italian, Mexican, Cuban … but it hasn’t actually become a complete part of everybody’s psyche. It’s there because it’s trendy, it’s there because it’s fun, it’s there because it’s different.

“You might get a French person starting an English-flavoured restaurant. No-one will heed the fact that there’s no real authenticity behind it: it’s just someone launching something new. And it’s fun and it’s funky.

“But what I’ve noticed in Scotland – and maybe this is because it's a smaller, more concentrated area – [she lives in Glasgow’s south side] is that these people, these restaurants, have influenced the way that people think about food in Scotland.”

Fish and chips is a good example. “It’s such a Scottish thing, but it’s not really, is it?" says Usmani. "It was the Italians who brought it in. They are still the best ones who do it, and people go to Italian chippies. They won’t really favour anyone else doing it.

“That is such an interesting way of looking at things. There’s a respect for the immigrants who come here, and there’s a respect for the immigrant food they bring in, and that becomes part of Scottish food. I think that is something to be celebrated.

“As an immigrant who has made Scotland her home – and very easily, I should add, because it’s one of the most welcoming countries I’ve ever visited – I’ve realised that this is something I would love to explore.

“In the column I will write predominantly about my personal experiences. I feel that this is probably the one place in Britain where I taste the flavour of home.

“When I go to certain restaurants that are run by Pakistanis, I can actually taste the food that I grew up with. And it’s not just your typical, expected, Asian food.”

Usmani believes that there are intriguing stories behind all of these immigrant food cultures. She is keen to explore how Scotland is becoming more interested in these cuisines, which form part of this country’s food fabric.

“But there is also a very strong sense of ownership that all of these people have brought with them, which has opened the eyes of the Scottish people.

“I want to go into people’s stories – maybe interview certain people. But I’ll be looking at how I can bring a certain twist onto things. Sometimes I might do a column which might be recipes that inspire me of home, and how I find similarities between Scotland and Pakistan.

“There will always be something about the fact of two worlds coming together, and making Scotland home.”

“It’s interesting when you’re in a strange new land and you are homesick, you eat the most comforting – and probably the most unhealthy – food from your own country. But it will take you home. This is something else I’m keen to explore – that connection to food, and how it can make you feel safe and give you a sense of home.”

This is an especially appropriate approach given the numbers of refugees who have arrived in Scotland from troubled homelands. “I’d like to go and speak to some Syrians and see how they are faring.

“They didn’t want to leave their home, of course, but they had to. It’s a very difficult place to be, in a foreign country where you probably can’t speak the language, and the culture is entirely different, and the only thing that connects you with where you came from is your food, because that takes you back.

“You can close your eyes as you eat it and think, ‘Oh, that’s my grandmother making that food, 20 years ago. Oh my God, I remember that’.

“So, how are they trying to find home? What are they doing when they can’t find some of the necessary ingredients? How are they using substitutions to recreate their food from home? What is the underlying authenticity that gives us the flavour of home? Is it the techniques we use? Is it the memory that we make it with? Is it the emotion that comes from sitting down together and eating as a family that makes it complete? It will be interesting to see how food connects with all those different things.”

Asked whether she knows of any Syrian restaurants in Glasgow, Usmani acknowledges that she has not yet seen any, but she doesn’t think it will be long before one is opened. Syrian food, she observes, is “incredible”, and the ingredients can easily be sourced in Middle Eastern shops that now flourish in Scotland.

“I think it’s about them feeling comfortable enough to believe that people are ready to taste their food. I’d like to explore the question: what is it that creates that sense of openness?”

For Usmani, ultimately, food is about love: when someone cooks for you, they are "putting a bit of love into your food”.

Usmani has, it will not come as a surprise to learn, her own favourites among immigrant food cuisines. “I really, really like things like Lebanese and Middle Eastern flavours, because there’s lot of freshness in them.

“See, it’s the very opposite of my food. Though there are many similarities with the barbecue and the meats in some areas of Pakistan. I grew up with lots of spice and chilli, and I feel that [Lebanese and Middle Eastern] food really celebrates the produce and the simplicity of flavour.

“It’s not boring. There’s always something happening. There’s an explosion of different flavours – not necessarily chilli or spice, but it is something they do. It’s probably the way they combine different ingredients. I find that quite exciting.”

She pauses. “I also do have to say,” she adds with a smile, “that I am quite partial to Malaysian and Thai food as well. I really love the lemongrass, and coconut milk, and all those things.”

It seems like a safe bet to say that Sumayya Usmani will come across new favourites, equally distinctive, as her new column develops.

http://sumayyausmani.com