Secrets from the Bolani Family Kitchen: Saucy Tales, Flatbread Fails & Flavor Wins

Bolani changes the way you interact with South Asian cooking.

The Bolani story begins with a young girl observing her grandmother gently spending time in her garden, familiarizing herself with the vegetables, spices, and aromas that dominated her family’s cuisine.

In a way, the inspiration behind Bolani’s vegan-stuffed flatbreads was always Nazie Sadiq’s grandmother. As a child, Nazie would carefully observe the technique and time her grandmother would put into each flatbread, stuffing them with potatoes, spices, and the freshest produce from their family home garden. 

Today, those flavors are in California grocery stores, selling Bolani, at farmers markets, and even at Costco. You can find Bolani’s vegan sauces and flatbreads anywhere.

Let’s take a journey into the heart of Bolani’s vegan sauces, which might not have come about in the way you’d expect. 

The Search for Her Homeland’s Cuisine

Nazie would find herself in a new chapter of her life when she and her parents moved to New York City. She racked up experience in fast food restaurants while slowly learning to live life in America, with its culture, vastly different food, and foreignness.

However, that wouldn’t hold her back. When she would explore the streets of New York, she had a question: where was the Afghan food? In streets lined with Indian delis, family-owned Jamaican businesses, vibrant, bustling Chinatowns, she wondered whether there was a place for Afghan cooking.

The Beginning of Bolani’s Flatbreads in America

Nazie, instead of waiting for a place to open up, decided to take her own initiative. What started as Bolani’s vegan stuffed flatbreads made with love and tradition for friends turned into a booth that sold out every weekend. It turned out that the appreciation that the little girl had for her grandmother’s cooking was something shared by crowd after crowd, hankering for just one more fresh Afghan flatbread.

Classic American dishes meet traditional Afghan flavors.

Pieces Falling Into Place: The Dawn of Bolani

For her, it all began to click. It started with a desire to feel the presence of her homeland in the food, aromas, and sights she’d take in every day. It turned into a growing demand for more and more of her cooking.  

Nazie began to make spreads and dips - the beginning of Bolani’s vegan sauces, which she recreated from traditional family recipes. Something in her sparked, and she knew she had captured lightning in a bottle.

Afghan-American Cooking: A New Fusion Style

It was all a hit. Her line of Bolani’s filled flatbreads and sauces took over more than just the local farmers’ market where she set up the booth that started it all. It expanded all over the Bay Area - suddenly, everyone was talking about how Bolani’s vegan sauces were the new hot thing.

From then on, Bolani partnered with major retailers and never lost its momentum, or its roots. The company expanded its line of products, its size, and the regions it catered to, and it scaled up without signs of stopping - but it never changed from what it was at the core. A haven for Afghan-American cooking to cultivate itself.

Soon, it would become a brand new way for people to enjoy plant-based eating, and today, California stores selling Bolani can be found everywhere.

Bolani: Your Go-To For Faithful, Real Afghan Flavors

Bolani’s story is a testament to the magic that can happen when you follow your instincts. What started as a child’s simple curiosity about the flavors she loved turned into a way for Americans to enrich their own lives today. 

The soul of Bolani has always been healthy, flavorful cooking that brings families together at one table. Bolani’s vegan sauces, flatbreads, and dips go with more than just Afghan cooking, but it’s one of the most authentic ways to experience it in America today.

Interested in seeing for yourself? Reach out to an outlet today and discover the magic of Bolani!