Women in Food and Art

Returning migrants transfer new ideas, values and norms that can improve social and economic outcomes in their home countries.

Nurhan, widely known as Nuki, is a contemporary artist and vegetarian food ambassador, who completed her visual arts studies at AUT Auckland University of Technology Visual Arts in New Zealand, where she resided for 10 years.

In 2007, she returned to her birthplace of Pristina – a vegetarian and a graduated contemporary artist. Her artistic vocation took off, and dozens of her artwork have been exhibited in and outside of Kosovo at personal and collective exhibitions in Vienna, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Pristina, etc.  

She recalls how coming back home was more of a cultural shock than going to New Zealand had been.

“It’s bizarre. Because I never thought this place could give me anything, but only the other way around. In the end, I did find the love of my life here and a career I do with passion and purpose,” explains Nuki.

Studies show that when migrants go home, they bring back skills and ideas that can change a community. As a result, one might consider their homecomings to be a kind of “brain gain” that benefits an entire society.

“I wouldn’t be the same person that I am today if I hadn’t lived in a diverse community in New Zealand, and if I hadn’t educated myself at one of the best art schools there. It has helped me understand human beings without judgement, and I am very proud of this,” she explains.

Learning how to be analytical about her work was crucial in terms of mastering critical thinking skills and her craft in art school, something less prevalent in Kosovo. 

“When I came back, I talked a lot about the importance of critical thinking and shared my experiences anywhere I could.”  

After some time, Nuki seemed to struggle finding the inspiration she needed to continue creating her art.  

“When this happened, I decided to channel my art differently – I turned to food,” she said. 

Mixing her love for vegetarian food with art, proved to be a natural continuation of Nuki’s attempts to use art and performance in exploring issues of one's own identity, its relation to the body and to earth. 

“Food, as well as art, enables me to grapple with questions on how we heal ourselves, what our relationship with food is, and how it leads to our self-expression,” she explains. 

Nuki initially began cooking for friends and colleagues. She cooked from memory, remaking food she had eaten in restaurants in New Zealand and dishes she had missed eating.

“I imagined them, and I made them. I adapted homecooked recipes with my own style of cooking. My friends went wild for the food, and I knew I had something good going here,” she explained. 

Together with her artist husband, Nuki opened Babaghanoush, the first vegetarian restaurant in the centre of Pristina. As spontaneous as the idea was, Lebanese, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food became an instant hit with locals and internationals in Kosovo. Vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike have been regular guests at the restaurant for five years now.

“You have no idea how many people there are that do not eat meat. It’s like they’re hiding, until they come out and say: I haven’t eaten meat in years,” she says.

Nuki has never looked back and is always creating new recipes to offer to her clients. Even when the pandemic hit, she and her husband dipped into their savings to stay afloat like so many struggling gastronomy businesses. 

“We decided to challenge the pandemic by not giving up. We paid our workers from our savings for a few months even though we were in lockdown. And this just brought the team closer together, so I know this was a good decision,” Nuki explains. 

With three staff in the kitchen and three on the floor, she affirms to have come out of the pandemic with a more consolidated menu for clients, and a newfound confidence to see this pandemic through as a business and as a team.

This confidence seems to also translate into other areas of Nuki’s life.  She says that being a mother, a female chef and restaurant owner is not easy, but so many other women are doing it, and successfully too.

“I believe that women in the food industry are thriving because of how they work – they do not cut corners, are vigilant and are more detail-oriented.”

Several successful eateries and restaurants that have recently sprung up around Pristina are women-led. They, like Nuki at Babaghanoush, are women offering unique culinary experiences, and adding flavour, innovation and heart to Kosovo’s culinary scene.

“We need to celebrate the hard work of women not only in the food industry, but in all industries. The culture has to change toward gender equality because women still have to work harder than men,” says Nuki.
  
Asked about her plans, Nuki smiles, “My next challenge is to create vegan yogurt.”