'Too brown to be English. Too Muslim to be British': Nadiya Hussain reveals anti-Muslim abuse

'Too brown to be English. Too Muslim to be British': Nadiya Hussain reveals anti-Muslim abuse
British Muslim baking star Nadiya Hussain revealed she was told she was "too Bengali to eat fish fingers" as she responded to the abuse she suffers online.
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The New Arab Staff

The New Arab

31 Oct, 2017
British TV cook Nadiya Hussain baked the Queen's 90th birthday cake [Getty]
TV presenter and former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain shared an emotional response online highlighting the amount of racist abuse she has received since winning the show. 

The chef and author, who was born and raised in Luton to a British Bangladeshi family, said sometimes she hates herself "for simply breathing the same air" after being told she is not entitled to live in the UK because she's Muslim.

"I get abuse for merely existing. Too brown to be English. Too Muslim to be British. Too Bengali to eat fish fingers!" said Hussain, who baked a cake for the Queen's 90th birthday last year.

"There is no end! I exist, we all do! Some days I hate myself for simply breathing the same air, that I am so often told, I am not entitled to. 

"Tear away your flesh, you are skeleton underneath like me, like everybody! So let's just breathe our air, let's exist because what else are we supposed to do?"

The 32-year-old baker, who won the sixth series of Bake Off, posted her statement seemingly in response to readers' comments on an article in Mail Online – linked to the Daily Mail newspaper – featuring Hussain's tips for a stress-free Christmas.

She explained that her family does not celebrate Christmas in the 'traditional sense'.

Twitter account @DMReporter, which calls out the publication's hypocrisy, misogyny and racism, drew attention to some of the hateful comments readers had posted at the end of the article, noting: "The only thing Mail readers hate more than a Muslim not integrating into British culture is a Muslim integrating into British culture."

Some readers said Hussain should not comment on Christmas because she was Muslim. 

"Sorry but if she doesn't celebrate Christmas what gives her the right to dish out advice?" one said.

"Why do I not want tips about how to celebrate Christmas from this woman? Would she like mine on how to celebrate Eid?" said another.

"Can this woman be anymore patronising. Most of us say we learnt our cooking/baking recipes and skills from our mothers/grandmothers yet her mother cannot speak English despite being in the country for something like 30 years," another reader said.

But a lot of love was shown for Hussain after her defiant Twitter statement, including from actress Meera Syal.


Other fans also tweeted their appreciation for the presenter.

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