‘I don’t need to be ‘made welcome’ because I’m not a tourist or an immigrant.’ (Picture: Jen Mills)

You might not immediately connect chocolate brownies and cookie dough with rising levels of anti-Muslim feeling.

But Ali Imdad wants you to.

The baker, who was runner up in series four of the Great British Bake Off, has created five desserts which he hopes will bring people together, after experiencing a rise in Islamophobia.

‘I have had racist abuse, I’ve been called a P***’,’ he told Metro.co.uk, adding that things have got worse since tensions rose over the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election.


‘Right now, when you talk about Muslims you talk about terrorism, immigration or you think about hijab,’ Ali said. ‘You think about very deep, political or theological aspects.

What about the cake though? (Picture: Jen Mills)

Orange and pomegranate drizzle cake (Picture: Jen Mills)

‘Okay, but let’s talk about the orange juice that we brought here. The coffee. Or let’s talk about the spices we bring.’



Ali, 30, has opened a pop-up at Bake Street cafe in Hackney, east London, where everyone is invited to try Western desserts with flavours and designs from the Muslim world.

Obviously, there’s only so much you can do to change the world with five cakes, which Ali will readily acknowledge.

However, they ARE very delicious cakes (we tested them to make sure).

‘The fact that I even need to point out that we are normal people, that’s what it’s about,’ he said.

‘Nothing brings people together more than food. So this is my way of contributing in the best way I know how.’

See I don't give a f*** about this punish a Muslim day. Hatred doesn't scare me. But my mum is sitting reading the Qur'an & praying for safety. And that p*sses me off. That she feels she has to pray to stay safe just for being a Muslim. When did we go back to the 1930s again? — Ali Imdad (@AliImdadBakes) April 2, 2018

He said the idea came after he experienced overt racism, but also more subtle ways in which people imply that he isn’t as British as them, despite being born in Birmingham.

‘I tweeted something about ‘Punish a Muslim Day’, saying it’s sad some Muslims are staying at home,’ Ali said.

‘A lot of people were saying ‘I’m really sorry you feel that way – you’re always welcome here.’

‘And I don’t understand what you mean by ‘You’re welcome here’. I was born here, I was bred here. I’m as British as you are.

‘They mean well. But it’s about changing not just racism, but some of the subtle bias that people have that they’re not aware of. That somehow, we’re still treated as an ‘other – even when people don’t intend to, we kind of are.

‘I don’t need to be ‘made welcome’ because I’m not a tourist or an immigrant.’

Yoghurt sorbet: The cafe specialises in milk–flavoured ice cream (Picture: Jen Mills)

The pop-up is at Bake Street cafe in Hackney (Picture: Jen Mills)

‘I’m not a politician – I’m not Owen Jones, so I can’t talk about the political aspects of Islamophobia,’ Ali said.

‘But I am a foodie, so if I can contribute to somehow reducing the stigma or introducing people to cultures they probably wouldn’t have heard of before, then this is my way of doing that.

He pointed out that anti-Muslim attitudes have gone mainstream.

One example, he said, was when Boris Johnson congratulated Viktor Orban on winning the elections in Hungary despite him running an anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant campaign.

Right-wing nationalist Orban has presented himself as the saviour of Christian values against what he calls an ‘invasion’ of Muslim migrants. His office used the occasion of Hungary’s Holocaust Remembrance Day to criticise EU migration policies.

The five desserts are inspired by flavours of the Islamic world (Picture: Jen Mills)

‘This party is very vocally Islamophobic, and you’re congratulating them?’ Ali said.



‘Should I tweet “Congratulations Hamas?” They were democratically elected, technically, but I don’t because these guys are tyrants.

‘We’re talking about a very prominent politician congratulating a racist, and it’s okay to do so.

‘We need to confront that, and this [the cafe] is just one tiny crumb of trying to do that.’

Congratulations to Fidesz and Viktor Orban on winning the elections in Hungary. We look forward to working with our Hungarian friends to further develop our close partnership. #UKandHungary — Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 9, 2018

He said he has also noticed people going out of their way to assure him they have no problem with Muslims – but that it backfires because the baseline assumption is that there’s a reason they would do.

‘It’s really weird – you also get a lot of positive discrimination,’ he said.

‘In the taxi here, all my conversations with the taxi driver would end up back at race – he was saying “Oh I have no issues with black people, I have no issues with Muslims” – as though that needs to be said.

‘Of course there are horrific Muslims out there – but I’m not one of them! I think (changing attitudes more generally) is the next bastion that we’re going to have to face.’

Have some cake and confront your unconscious biases (Picture: Jen Mills)

Ali says he’s in a privileged position to experience two cultures, as he grew up in Alum Rock (the ‘Asian area’ of Birmingham) but can still speak Urdu, as his parents moved over from Pakistan when they got married in the 1980s.

And he wanted to reflect that in his cakes, adding flavours to typically Western foods that people might not have tried before.

As he puts it: ‘I like the idea of east and west meeting together through desserts.’

Orange drizzle cake, with flavours from Morocco (Picture: Jen Mills)

A Persian Sundae, with flavours from Iran (Picture: Instagram/HaloodieFoodie)

Chocolate and Date Brownie, with flavours from Palestine (Picture: Instagram/HaloodieFoodie)

There wasn’t a lot left by the time I left (Picture: Jen Mills)

Ali, right, with Feroz Gajia, who owns Bake Street (Picture: Jen Mills)

To try Ali’s desserts and chat to him about the ideas behind them (if he gets a chance to leave the kitchen), head to the pop-up.


Milk Cafe is open at Bake Street cafe in Hackney every evening from 5.30pm until 11pm until May 13. To reserve a table, message on Instagram or Facebook @milkcafegelato or email contactmilkcafe@gmail.com.

It’s only open for a month, but he says he’d like to find somewhere else in London after this.

Flavours of the Muslim World Ali made typically western desserts like ice cream sundae and chocolate brownie, but took inspiration from Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Iran and Malaysia for the flavours. He was also inspired by his faith and the way food is spoken about in the Quran. https://www.instagram.com/p/BhCk8x3nusV/?taken-by=aliimdadbakes ‘There are flavours in there that the Prophet loved – there’s honey in there, and that was his favourite food,’ he said. ‘Dates were something he lived off. Figs are mentioned in the Quran. ‘The Quran has whole verses based on food, so for us food isn’t just sustenance – there’s also a spiritual or theological aspect to it. ‘Some say even by eating honey, god is rewarding you. I love that link between theology and food. I don’t want food to be just sustenance, eating for the sake of eating. ‘There’s so much backstory to it, and so much that Muslims have done to contribute to the food we’re enjoying right now.’

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