Chef Parveen Ashraf Returns to Work After Tragedy

Chef Parveen Ashraf, 61, also known as Parveen the Spice Queen, has returned to social media six months after the death of her husband.

The chef shot to fame in 2019 after starring in series Parveen's Indian Kitchen. She has since built up a strong social media following, sharing her recipes and cooking videos with nearly 30k followers.

Parveen has not posted on her popular Instagram account since October though, and recently returned to explain her lengthy absence, confirming her husband of 38 years Qamar had died six months ago. 

Uploading a video, the tearful chef told her followers: 'Hi everyone, it is Parveen the Spice Queen – but I am not even sure if I am still her.'

'I just wanted to come on here as I've been away for a while but I wanted to come and say that I think I am ready to come back to work.'

'But I am not even sure what [work] means yet. I had a personal tragedy and I lost my husband about six months ago.'

'Those that have lost somebody, you will know how painful this is. I feel he wouldn't want me to wallow in self-pity so I am going to try and get back to work and posting videos and recipes.'

Parveen blew a kiss to the camera as she added in her caption: 'The pain of losing someone you love is all consuming and it's easy to just let the grief take over, however for the sake of my own sanity, I am hoping to get back to work soon.

'Rest in peace my darling man.'

In a December Facebook post, Parveen told her loved ones that Qamar 'my husband of 38 years and the father of my 3 children was taken from us tragically and suddenly.'

'He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed during a robbery in Ghana.' Qamar had been living in Ghana at the time of the incident

In another recent Instagram post the chef thanked her followers for their support and shared 'a few pics of our 38 years together.'

She added that she chose the Genesis song Follow You, Follow Me to accompany her video montage as 'I always told him that wherever he was, I would follow him - and I did;  I left my parents home and followed him to London.'

'He got a contract in Leeds, so I and my 2 toddlers followed him. He got a job in Peterborough, so I moved there with my 2 children and one on the way.

'He went to Ghana and I left the UK and my 2 eldest children and follows him. He is now in a different realm and I will follow him there too.'

'Rest in peace my darling handsome, stubborn, whitty, intelligent husband.'