In 2014, Baneta Yelda became stranded in Britain. The advance of Isis in Iraq made returning home to Erbil impossible, and Baneta’s visit became an asylum application.
Now a UK citizen and co-owner of Manchester bakery Companio, Iraqi food remains close to the 33-year-old’s heart. A scientist, Baneta used to work in the NHS, but in the evenings she would spend hours learning how to cook family recipes, guided by her mum’s video calls. “As a refugee, you feel homesick,” says Baneta, whose Assyrian Christian family remain in Iraq. “Being quiet in the kitchen and those cooking smells take me home. That’s how it all started.”
Enthusiastic feedback from flatmates and colleagues confirmed Baneta’s flair for cooking which, over time, inspired her to find work in professional kitchens. When a refugee scholarship became available at Nottinghamshire’s School of Artisan Food [SOAF], she threw herself into six months of training as a baker: “I only had hours to think about it. It was one of the best experiences of my life.”
At SOAF, Baneta met Neil
