The fragrant smell of Indian spices emanate from the warmly lit kitchen, as sounds of joyful laughter and endless chatter can be heard from the busy chefs behind the counter.

It is 10am on a Wednesday morning and Naheed and Shazia, are busy preparing a plethora of ‘home-cooked’ foods inspired by their South Asian heritage.

The popular kitchen-cafe is run by Roshni, a Sheffield-based Asian Women’s Resource Centre on Queens Road, in Nether Edge. Locals frequently pop in for an affordable traditional hot meal at the centre which has now been open for 10 months.

Fouzia Ali, the Empowerment Co-ordinator for Roshni, who has worked with the charity for 14 years, is enthusiastic and passionate about the work the centre carries out.

“There are so many women who are such good cooks,” she says. “We wanted to see if the women could use the skills they have gained through Roshni and turn it into a business. So this is a way of building connections in the local community with home cooked food and the women can gain new skills.

“We have a real sense of community here at Roshni. That’s one of the reasons we have so many courses because it gives opportunities for socialising.”

Roshni, which means ‘light’ in Urdu, was set up in 1992 by a group of feminists who wanted to provide services and support to empower women.

The centre aims to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds who are often cut off from external support due to their culture and language barriers.

Fouzia explained a lot of the women who come to Roshni are from immigrant backgrounds and have struggled because they don’t know how to integrate.

“They weren’t raised to live independent lives,” she says. “It was very much the belief that you should look after your children, husband and house. This is why Roshni exists because South Asian women can be more shy and don’t really look out for opportunities so they can miss out.”

The kitchen, which opened in April 2024, was set up to provide women training and work experiences. There are a mixture of volunteers and paid staff who have completed a hospitality course in partnership with Free2Learn and UMIX.

One of those women, Shazia, 53, who has worked at Roshni Kitchen since its opening, moved to Sheffield from Pakistan and talks, and is grateful to Roshni’s services.

“Most of the women who come from Pakistan don’t have help and they don’t feel comfortable going to other organisations because of the language barriers,” says Shazia.

After she moved to the UK, Shazia was helped by Roshni to settle into England and learn the language, while she looked after her young son.

“He’s in secondary school now,” says Shazia. “I thought I need to give something back to my community. With the kitchen, I was also able to go back to employment which has given me my confidence back.”

Last month, the cafe, a social enterprise, extended their opening hours from three days a week to six which will mean more opportunities for volunteers to build their skills. As well as skills, there is an opportunity to meet women facing similar barriers.

Roshni advertise working at the kitchen is advertised to their service users so they can take up new opportunities.

Fouzia, the Empowerment Coordinator, is also an Ayurveda practitioner who specialises in a holistic system of medicine and lifestyle which originated in India.

“From the beginning, I knew I would use my skills for a community purpose because there are so many health issues in South Asian communities and in the general community and it is to do with our eating habits and lifestyle habits,” she says.

The Thali dishes are inspired by the Ayurvedic system, and have a variety of components to provide a balanced diet. This includes rice, dhal, three types of sauteed vegetables, some achar (pickle) and chutney.

The cafe which serves 30 freshly cooked meals, free of charge, every week to their clients who are struggling with the rising cost of living crisis and also run a diabetes programme which aims to inform women about healthier swaps that they can make.

“A lot of the community is fragmented,” says Fouzia, the Empowerment Coordinator. “The women we see suffer a lot of stigma and they become very isolated. We help them to envision something for themselves that fits more the life they have landed into rather than the life that was planned for them.”

Before working at the kitchen, Shazia recollects how she would only go out once or twice a week to shop or to see relatives, but now she gets up everyday, puts nice clothes and makeup on and looks forward to cooking.

“I get on with the women,” she says. “They all love that I’m always singing or joking. We have a good chat, and we understand each other’s circumstances. Mine is different from other peoples, but because I have worked with domestic abuse survivors in the past, I understand how that can affect them personally and mentally.”