Author, Chef, Nutritionist

A BIOGRAPHY OF SIDDIQUA KABIR 

BIOGRAPHY ON SIDDIQUA KABIR 

 Nutritionist, Author, Chef

(May 7, 1931 – January 31, 2012)

On May 7, 1931, Siddiqua Kabir was born at Dhaka, which was under the then British India at that time. She was the second child among 6 children of her parents. When she was only 17, her father passed away. Since then, she took the responsibility for the well-being of her siblings. She worked hard along with her mother for the education and marriage of her siblings. She herself did not get married till all her siblings were settled. 

Siddiqa completed both her BSc. (Honors) and MSc. degree in Mathematics. Later, in 1961, after receiving a scholarship offer from the Ford Foundation, USA, she moved to Oklahoma State University to do a course on food, nutrition, and institutional administration and in 1963, earned a second Master’s degree (M.A.) in the same topic.  

In 1957, she started off her career as a teacher by joining in the department of Mathematics in Eden Girls’ College, Dhaka. Then in 1963, she joined the Nutrition department of College of Home Economics as an Assistant Professor and retired from there as a Principal in 1993.  In 1966, she started a television cooking show programme. Since then, for a long period of time, her career has been mainly based on hosting various cooking shows. She gained all the publicity and fame from these. She also served in the consulting work for several well-known international and Bangladeshi consumer food companies like Radhuni, Dano, and Nestlé, for 10 years. 

She had written textbooks about food and nutrition and also she used to write about food recipes in different newspaper articles. In 1978, Siddiqua published her first book named রান্না খাদ্য পুষ্টি. It was written in Bangla and that is why it got huge popularity among the Bangladeshi readers. This book just recently has received the Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2011. In 1984, she published her second book, in English, Bangladeshi Curry Cookbook. In this book, she focused only on the Bangladeshi cuisines or recipes with the target to grab the attention of the international community. Her third book is called খাবার দাবারের কড়চা. 

In 2004, she won the Anannya Top Ten Awards, Sheltech Award in 2009. She was also awarded with the Buriganga Rotary Club Award. 

In marital life, she was married to Syed Ali Kabir. The couple together had 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters. 

She was always a simple and humble woman, who did not talk much but was a soft-spoken and friendly person. She was a hardworking and professional person who would make sure her dishes were perfect before she showed them on cooking shows. She worked hard till her death. 

On 31 January, 2012, at the age of 80 years, she passed away at the Square Hospital, Dhaka.

Life of "Siddiqua Kabir" At a Glance

  • Real Name: Siddiqua Kabir

    Birth Date: May 7, 1931

    Birth Place: Dhaka, Bengal Presidency, British India, now Bangladesh

    Death Date: January 31, 2012 (80 years old) 

    Death Place: Square Hospital,  Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Education:

    ➢ BSc. Hons. in Mathematics

    ➢ M.Sc., Mathematics

    ➢ M.A., Food, Nutrition and Institutional Administration, Oklahoma State University, the USA, in 1963

    Professions:

    ➢ Teacher, Mathematics department, Eden Girls’ College, in 1957

    ➢ Assistant Professor, Nutrition department of College of Home Economics, in 1963

    ➢ Principal, Nutrition department of College of Home Economics, in 1993 

    ➢ Nutritionist

    ➢ Television Cooking Show Host

    ➢ Cooking Show Judge 

    ➢ Author of Cookbooks

    ➢ Consultant Work, foreign and Bangladeshi consumer food brands, from 1996 to 2006

    Married to: Syed Ali Kabir

    Children: 4; 2 sons and 2 daughters

    ➢ Shahnaz Ahmed

    ➢ Sakhawat Ahmed

    ➢ Ahmed Saad

    ➢ Zarina Nahar Kabir 

    Siblings: 5

    Religion: Islam

    Awards and Achievements: 

    ➢ Anannya Top Ten Awards, in 2004

    ➢ Sheltech Award, in 2009

    ➢ Buriganga Rotary Club Award 

    ➢ Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2011
    Books: 

    ➢ রান্না খাদ্য পুষ্টি, in 1978

    ➢ Bangladeshi Curry Cookbook, in 1984

    ➢ খাবার দাবারের কড়চা

  

Early Life and Education

On May 7, 1931, Siddiqua Kabir was born at Dhaka, which was the then Bengal Presidency of British India. She had 5 siblings and she was the second child of her parents. When she was only 17, her father passed away. She was preparing for the higher secondary exams at that time.

Siddiqa completed her BSc. (Honors) degree in Mathematics. Later, she did her first Masters (MSc.) degree in the same subject. Then, in 1961, she received a scholarship offer from the Ford Foundation, an American private foundation, for her second Masters (M.A.) degree.  So, she traveled to the USA to do a course at Oklahoma State University on food, nutrition, and institutional administration. 2 years later, in 1963, she earned her Masters degree in the same field.

Career

In 1957, Siddiqua started off her career as a teacher. She had joined the department of Mathematics in Eden Girls’ College, Dhaka.  

When she returned home from the USA after her second Masters degree, she joined the Nutrition department of College of Home Economics as an Assistant Professor, in 1963. She retired from there as a Principal in 1993. She served in the same institution for 30 years. 

In 1966, with an intention to eradicate malnourishment among mothers and children of Bangladesh, she started a television cooking show programme. This was aired on Dhaka TV. Thus, she became a cooking show host. She gained huge support from mass people from this. “Siddiqua Kabir’s recipe”, a cooking show on NTV channel gave her all the popularity, fame and respect for 9 years. For a long period of time, her career was mainly based on these cooking shows, as a cooking show judge or host or presenter, on different TV channels.     

Her career path also led to consulting work for several well-known international and Bangladeshi consumer food companies like Radhuni, Dano, and Nestlé, for 10 years from 1996 to 2006.

Awards and Achievements

Siddiqua had received several awards from different food and television industries. One of the notable awards is the Sheltech Award. She got it in 2009.

In 2004, she won the Anannya Top Ten Awards. This award is given to the Bangladeshi women in recognition of their contributions in the fields of agriculture, industrial, trade, economics, acting, music, sports, education, liberation war, social welfare and development-work-law, human rights, entrepreneur, politics and journalism. 

Siddiqua was also awarded with the Buriganga Rotary Club Award. 

She got the opportunity to give an interview with the Voice of America, an USA based international radio broadcaster, where she spoke about food value and nutrition and different food preparation.

Personal Life

Cooking was a means of pleasure and an enjoyable thing for Siddiqua. At home, she would make herself too available in the kitchen just for cooking, especially for trying different cuisines. 

According to Siddiqua’s one of the 2 daughters, Zarina Nahar Kabir, Siddiqua was a “balanced” lady. Siddiqua had the ability to blend the modern with the traditional, and maintained a balance between her professional and family life. 

Siddiqua was a bold and brave woman who in the 1960s, had the guts to host a cooking show on television. Not many women ventured out in the public at that time, forget about performing in the media. Even before that, as a young woman, in the early 1950s, despite having an elder brother, Siddiqua took over the responsibility for her siblings. She, along with her mother, took the responsibility of rearing and educating her brother and three younger sisters. She waited to be married until the last of her siblings had earned a university degree.      

Siddiqua Kabir was married to Syed Ali Kabir. He was a prominent journalist and the former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank. The couple together had 4 children; 2 sons and 2 daughters: Shahnaz Ahmed,Sakhawat Ahmed, Ahmed Saad, and Zarina Nahar Kabir. 

Siddiqua and her husband had a mutual love, and they would express their love for each other openly. As per Zarina’s statements, in the book “Rondhon Shilpi Siddiqua Kabir”, published in 2009, Syed Ali always said that the best thing that had happened to him was to have Siddiqua in his life. Both the couple were very disciplined and organized. They together created an environment at home where search for knowledge was simply natural and infinite. 

Siddiqua always ensured that her all the 4 children, from their childhood time, know the nutrient values of the foods that were served to them. They would internalize the nutrition in the food as well as enjoy the delicious appearance and taste of the food. When she would approach cooking, she would be as precise as solving a mathematics equation. She would always measure the calories of each item that she prepared. This is something normal from a person who knows both the mathematics and art of cooking.  She used to make her children the guinea pigs for her cookery experiments. Her family had supported her wholeheartedly too. She preferred staying in the kitchen until she did not get the perfect recipe to add to her manuscript. Her family would often get the discarded batches as their snacks. She would spend hours trying to make the same dishes again and again. Her children and family would get tired, but she would not. 

Though she received huge popularity, she loved to remain calm and down to earth. She used to feel awkward with all the attention. Because she was a very calm and disciplined person, who was not so talkative, people used to mistake her for a serious and grumpy person. Gradually, after talking with her, people could realize that actually she is soft spoken and well-articulated. 

She was never interested in promoting herself. That is why, it was difficult for TV channel producers to convince her to host or join in a show. Luckily, one of the renowned Bangladeshi TV media personalities, Sara Zaker, happens to be Siddiqua’s niece. She could convince Siddiqua to star in the show “Siddiqua Kabir’s Recipe”, which became a hit show for 9 years. According to Sara, Siddiqua had given a condition that if she ever had a cooking show she would only do it under Sara’s production house, Dhoni chitro Limited.

Siddiqua was such a hardworking professional person that she used to prepare the dishes/recipes that she showed on the show beforehand several times before actually showing the perfect recipe on TV. Moreover, though the A/C could not be turned on and there was a presence of constant heat from the cooking, she never complained or felt exhausted because of these. She also hardly used to remain seated and took rest during the show. Even in her late 70s, she was always seen to be energetic, positive and enthusiastic to learn different things from guests in the cooking show. Also, Siddiqua had been active and persistent all through her life. Until her sickness, 2 months prior to her death, she was seen working for some things or other. 

Though she would make different incredible recipes, she herself never ate much. Whenever she was offered food, she would always say, “Don’t give me much”. This proves how humble she was. Also, simplicity was her main concern. She would be draped in a simple saree, hair in a bun and a hint of makeup on face.  

Siddiqua had a habit of writing. According to her daughter, Zarina, an usual scene in their house at 2 am was that Siddiqua, also her husband, would sit and write different columns, poems, novels, essays or recipes. 

Siddiqua was a lover of music and poetry. She used to often spend her lazy afternoons with her daughter-in-law listening to Rabindra Sangit. She also loved reciting poetry. 

The relationship that she had with her daughter-in-law was incredible too. Nafisa Hasin Shormi, Siddiqua’s daughter-in-law, shared one of their memories together that they would sit together and make plans for the whole day and also manage the household together side by side, just like two good friends. 

One of the sweet and beautiful incidents that happened on one of Siddiqua’s birthdays is that once, her husband decided to surprise her with a number of sarees. He hid them in every possible site of the house where she may visit during the day. At first, when she opened her cupboard door to get money for grocery shopping, a saree fell out. Later she found another saree hidden behind the stacks of books when she went to get a book off the bookshelf. Gradually, she discovered 2 more sarees from under her pillow and bathroom. Though she was overwhelmed with happiness, she was shy to express her feelings. So she just spent her special day by wearing each of the sarees. She then preserved them all as priceless belongings.

Books

In her lifetime, she had written 3 books on food and cuisines. But mainly 2 books received immense popularity. All of the 3 books were published by ‘মাওলা ব্রাদার্স’ publisher. 

She had also written textbooks about food and nutrition and in different newspaper articles, she had written different food recipes. 

By applying her knowledge and experience about food and nutrition, in March 1978, Siddiqua published her very first book named রান্না খাদ্য পুষ্টি.  The book is written in Bangla and it covers cuisines or recipes from all over the world. This is why this book was highly demanded by people for over two-three decades, especially women of all ages who love to cook for their family. She attempted to open up the culinary delights of the world to the Bangladeshi people through her book. This is why it was written in Bangla language. Very recently, this book has received the Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2011. 

In 1984, she published her second book, titled Bangladeshi Curry Cookbook. In this book, she focused only on the Bangladeshi cuisines or recipes. She had written this book in English language with the target to grab the attention of the international community. She sought to take Bangladeshi cookery into the kitchen around the globe. 

The current version of this book is proofread by her own daughter, Zarina Nahar Kabir. 

Her third cookbook is called খাবার দাবারের কড়চা.

Death

On 31 January, 2012, at the age of 80 years, Siddiqua breathed her last at Square Hospital, Dhaka. She was suffering from heart diseases and other aging diseases. She was admitted at the CRP hospital before she was transferred to the Square hospital for better treatment. The doctors there later declared her dying naturally.   

Conclusion

Many Bangladeshis call Siddiqua Kabir a legend as she tried to promote a mundane domestic chore into an art and created awareness on the nutritional aspects of food and diet. With her culinary delights, she had booked a permanent space in the hearts of those who love to cook, generations after generations. Her lifestyle even after being a celebrity inspires the younger generation to be humble. Her contributions in the household of almost every Bangladeshis in terms of food and nutrition will be unforgettable for many decades.

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