I’m Tanveer, one of the directors of Safeerah.  Born and raised in London, England, with heritage going back to Tanzania and further back to the small villages in India.

I am by profession an optometrist, and have been for the last 18 years, in fact I wanted to be an optometrist since I was 13 years old, that’s all I ever wanted to do. I loved and still love making people see the world better, through clearer eyes, and make life easier for them. At the same time i enjoyed good food and the women in my family influenced that greatly. From my grandmas puris to my aunts (Masi’s) halfmoons and all the way to my mums yummy dinners. I soon realised i had to continue this tradition of being a great cook, so i tasted the good food, and used to try to replicate it at home adding my own twist.  So basically, if im not eating it, I’m making it.

I was lucky enough to get married into a family who also share the passion of good food. I learnt the art of cooking for large crowds from my mother in law, and sister in law yet other women who influenced my life.  My husband having had the best food at home cooked by his mum pushed me to want to be a better cook, and my children hence inherited a great pallet.  As my 3 children were growing up i tried to make their lunch boxes as interesting as possible and sometimes they would come back having shared their lunch and orders from their friends for tomorrow’s lunch. I knew i was doing something right.

As we have hit Covid-19 i tried to combine my passion of optometry with cooking and the only place it combines is doing things to make life easier for others.  So, here we are Az and I with Safeerah, a partnership that fell into our laps and was a no brainer. Having the opportunity to work with my best friend makes work fun.