Nadiya Hussain was born and brought up in Britain but her family is from Bangladesh. In this first programme of two, she makes a surprise discovery about her DNA which sees her travel solo for the first time, exploring the people, places and food of Thailand and Cambodia. Nadiya's search for connections in these countries takes her from the world-famous temples of Angkor Wat in the north of Cambodia and to a Muslim island in the deep south of Thailand. She journeys deep into the waterways of the Tonle Sap, the biggest lake in south east Asia, to visit a floating community and make prahok, a fermented fish paste that's Cambodia's staple food. Nadiya uncovers a bakery school in Cambodia training up girls from tough backgrounds in the art of French patisserie to help them get jobs in tourist restaurants and hotels. In a grove of sugar palm trees, Nadiya assists a grandfather in the labour-intensive process of making the buttery, rich sugar that she's taken for granted as a cooking ingredient all her life. In Bangkok, one of Thailand's top chefs inducts Nadiya into his 21st-century take on his country's centuries-old tradition of eating insects. Together, they create crisps, Nadiya's favourite snack, made from creepy crawlies. Leaving the bustle of Thailand's capital behind, Nadiya heads east to Chanthaburi, a town famous for its noodles, on the trail of one the country's best-known dishes to find out what makes a fantastic pad thai. Wanting to get more of a picture about where her ancestors might have come from, Nadiya ventures to the tiny island of Koh Sukhorn, and learns how to make a curry paste that's unique to the Muslim community there from a women-only co-operative. As her time in the Far East draws to a close, Nadiya reflects on the people, places and food of these countries that she has a DNA connection to, and how far she has come in managing to make such a lengthy foreign trip without any of her family.
Nadiya Hussain was born and brought up in Britain but her family is from Bangladesh. Recently she made a surprise discovery about her DNA that led her first to visit Thailand and Cambodia. Now, on the last leg of her travels, she takes a trip to the remote Himalayan country of Nepal to learn more about its people, places and food as part of her adventure to further explore her identity. Her journey begins in Kathmandu, where she joins a supper club run by local young foodies who share with her the vastly varied cuisine of their country - from the yak butter devoured by Sherpas in the mountains, to the snails eaten in the southern flood plains. Nadiya then heads to Bhaktapur, a historic city devastated by the earthquake of 2015 that affected eight million people in Nepal. There she meets Rotna, a potter whose home was destroyed. He is set on saving enough money to rebuild it, and to do this he has joined forces with his wife and daughter in a new venture to sell the city's speciality yoghurt in his own handmade pots, which Nadiya tries making. Gaining entry to a closed abbey, Nadiya meets a sect of Buddhist nuns who preach female empowerment and practise kung fu. Inspired by her travels Nadiya makes a dish for the class to say thank you. Next, Nadiya, conquers her fear of small planes to make it to the Annapurna mountains, where she meets her guide Vidya, who was born and raised more than two and a half thousand metres above sea level. Vidya takes Nadiya on her first trek to the village of Thini, where her relatives welcome them with drinks and snacks to restore them after their walk. Her final destination is a party for a charity that helps children afflicted by the civil war that tore the country apart over a ten-year period.