By Bill LeConey, Vermont Country Magazine.
BRATTLEBORO — Vermont is much different than Afghanistan, but when Shaima Hussainzada Aslami is baking any of the delicious breads of her native land, she at least has a sense of familiarity.
“When I’m in our kitchen, I’m feeling I’m at my home,” Shaima said. “I have the joy, ability and energy to do it.”
And the local community is grateful, as well, to have the opportunity to purchase her naan, the traditional Afghan flatbread, or roht, a sweet bread spiced with cardamom, both packaged under the brand name TAZA (which means “fresh” in Arabic). Shaima, who came to this country nearly two years ago as a refugee with two of her sons, delivers the bread twice a week to the Brattleboro Food Co-op and once a week to the Putney Food Co-op.
Her son, Orfan, helps her with buying the ingredients, baking and delivering the product, and also translates for his mother at times. Another son, Aman, even while currently living in Germany, helps to get the word out on social media.
“After months of challenges and other problems of getting used to the American way of life and missing the traditional Afghan bread and dishes, my mom Shaima … came up with the idea of baking Afghan naan (bread) at home,” Aman wrote recently in an Instagram post and shared by the Brattleboro Food Co-op. “Some of her friends and volunteers encouraged her to do it as a side hustle and introduced the Afghan naan to all of you. We are thrilled with the kind of response we have been getting from those who on a regular basis buy our bread.”
In addition to making the naan and roht, Hussainzada bakes bolani, a stuffed, pan-fried flatbread filled with a mixture of potato mash and other ingredients. She also offers catering services, making traditional Afghan specialties for fellow refugee families or those interested in experiencing the country’s unique cuisine.
The idea sprang from her arrival in Brattleboro in early 2022, when the family lived with other refugee families on the campus of the School for International Training.
Shaima and her sons had difficulty at first adjusting to Vermont: “The first time coming here at night, with the trees and the forests, it was very dark, and I was afraid,” she said. “It’s very different. I thought we were alone in the forest.”
That changed when she started cooking for the other Afghan refugee families, who did not care much for the food they found here upon their arrival. World Learning and SIT partnered with the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) to welcome and help resettle more than 100 Afghans who fled their country during the Taliban takeover in 2021.
In March of 2022, the new and longtime Vermonters came together with friends and supporters at SIT for a celebration of Nowruz, a secular new year celebrated in Afghanistan, Iran, much of Central Asia, and beyond. Held during the vernal equinox, Nowruz — which means “new day” — celebrates rebirth and renewal.
Shaima was asked to cook traditional Afghan foods such as chicken and vegetable korma, lamb kofta kebabs, spinach and other dishes for the more than 150 Afghan refugees, community volunteers, government officials and other supporters who attended the celebration.
“That time I did not make the breads,” Shaima said. “But then I started cooking for the people who live at SIT, and that made it easier, it made me feel busy. They asked if I could make food for other people, and I said, ‘OK, that’s fine, I’m happy to make food for the people.'”
Many of the Afghan families eventually moved off campus and into communities throughout the area, enrolled their children in schools (Shaima’s youngest son is a high school student), and most have found employment in full-time jobs with benefits. Shaima and her sons moved to an apartment building in the Esteyville section of Brattleboro, where she has a kitchen suitable for baking the breads and making the other Afghan foods.
An American friend named Jennifer first suggested to Shaima that there might be a market for her bread in the area.
“Jennifer came for breakfast, and she ate the bread and said, ‘Oh, it’s very good, why don’t you make it for selling? People like that and will buy that, you ought to try that.'”
Shaima was hesitant at first, but she talked to the co-op managers and they agreed the breads would be a good fit for their stores. Sales were slow over the summer but have picked up this fall. TAZA breads have also been sold at both winter and summer farmers markets in the area. Shaima and her sons would like to expand the catering business or perhaps operate a “pop-up kitchen” or even open a restaurant.
“The ECDC gave my mother orders for Afghan families and other Muslim families that don’t eat American food, so she cooks and they take it for the newcomers until they are settled in their homes,” Orfan said. “It’s delicious food and very different from American food.”
But there are other concerns.
Shaima misses her life in Afghanistan, where she had many family members nearby, and sometimes struggles with loneliness here. She also misses her daughter, Weeda, who is still in Afghanistan, and Shaima fears for her safety there. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the rights of women and girls to work and to have an education.
“My family, we’re in three parts right now, and I hope my family can be together someplace,” she said. “My sons are safe, but my daughter is not safe in Afghanistan, and I am very afraid about that. She cannot go outside shopping when her husband is not with her. She was also a teacher but she is not working now. I miss her and my grandchildren.”
TAZA Afghan naan and roht can be purchased at the Brattleboro Food Co-op and Putney Food Coop, and can be ordered directly through the Instagram page @tazabreadvt.
Bill LeConey is night news editor of Vermont News & Media publications, the Brattleboro Reformer, Bennington Banner and Manchester Journal. He loves all kinds of music, especially rock, funk, punk, jamband, reggae, jazz and soul. He’s from New Jersey (don’t hold that against him) but now lives in Brattleboro with his wife Linda, son Billy, dog Iko and cat Pippi. He hates celery.
