Queen's Hotel to host gala night to celebrate The Road From Karachi and raise money for water pumps

The Queen’s Hotel will host an evening in celebration of The Road From Karachi - a family cookbook that originated in the 1980s and was found and published 30 years later. 

Nadia Arab’s family set up a cookery school in Buckland in 1984 and in 1987, created the Indian Cookery Made Easy cookbook which was available to students and in WHSmith. Nadia’s mother, Khalida misplaced her copy and the book was lost for decades until Nadia happened to discover that a work colleague still had an original copy. She then Nadia worked with her mother to take the classic recipes and recreate the cookbook, which is now available in bookstores including Waterstones and Amazon.

The gala event, which will take place on February 23, at The Queen’s Hotel will see dozens of people come together to enjoy recipes from the book, prepared by the Queen’s Hotel chefs, and share inspiring stories - while ticket sales will fund clean water pumps that will be installed in deprived areas in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. Nadia is hoping that the event will raise enough money to fund 10 water pumps, which cost £150 each. 

One Nation, the charity that installs the water pumps, will be attending the event to explain the impact that the water pumps have on people.

Nadia said: "The majority of the sales from the book go towards funding these water pumps. It was really important to me to do this - to make a difference with this book beyond its history. It has a really interesting past history to it but the change it’s making in the future will hopefully be the legacy that it leaves.

"The event will be a great chance for people who haven’t yet tried our recipes to do so, and to experience a celebration of Indian and Pakistani cuisine and culture. The best part is that if they enjoy any of the recipes, they’ll be able to go home and create it themselves.

"I’ve been shown so much support from people around the city, particularly local businesses, so I’m really excited and grateful that this event is possible and am hoping to see lots of people supporting and enjoying themselves on the night."

On the night guests will enjoy a silent auction, live music and dancing, henna tattoos and more and Nadia says she wants it to feel like a big celebration of food and culture. 

Tickets will cost £65,71 and within that, guests will be able to tuck into delicious food alongside brilliant entertainment and fun. For more information, click here.