Aleya cooks up breakfast treats to support childrens charity

Date published: 09 February 2021


Savour some of the finest home-cooked South Asian food and make a sweet contribution to beating poverty.

That's the message from a new Hollins based company named Nastawala - from the Urdu for “breakfast snack” – who is also attempting to reunite families around the table and get them to talk about history and culture.

Run by Aleya Begum, who learned her culinary skills from three generations of her family, the venture will donate everything they earn from their first breakfasts to providing blankets for the homeless and much-needed aid for children in the Yemen and Syria, because they believe, “charity begins in our homes.”

Aleya, 40, will be providing mouth-watering sweet and savoury breakfasts based on traditional South Asian cuisine, which will be delivered by volunteers from the Global Relief Trust (GRT) charity.

And says Aleya, they will purposefully be provided for families of four at the knock-down price of £20, to encourage even those being bitten by financial problems, to eat together and reconnect.

“The savoury breakfasts will include omelettes and dahls, while the sweet versions will prove popular with children as they contain dishes such as Puri (deep fried bread)” said Aleya. “I think that when children sit with their parents to eat new things, they might ask “where does this come from?” which gives us the opportunity to talk about our culture and heritage.”

Aleya is being supported all the way by GRT, who offer on-the-ground aid to people in eight countries and have also been instrumental in helping local charities such as Oldham Foodbank, heart charity Lagan’s Foundation and cancer cause, Maggie’s Oldham.

Their Oldham operation is spearheaded by serial runner and inspirational fundraiser, Afruz Miah, who has pounded the streets to raise over £100,000 for good causes during Lockdown.

“One of our new areas of work has been to aid small and emerging businesses who have suffered so much during the pandemic” said Afruz, “obviously in this case we are also boosting charities caring for the most vulnerable both here and in other countries. Nastawala is being organised by Aleya and her daughter Sumaya, who will bring her youthful expertise to online marketing, and has family completely at this heart.

These breakfasts have all the ingredients to promote kindness, consideration and community cohesion – so why not give them a try?”

To order a delicious breakfast full of eastern promise, phone 07748 716063.


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