Food is more than just a means of sustenance and nourishment, but also brings about a connectedness from culture to culture. With food, one person can experience the world from the comfort of their home. Everyone has their own personal journey and timeless memories with it, especially those who have a passion for being in the kitchen. For many, cooking is an expression, an art, a way of life and recent college graduate, Amaan Amir, can attest to this belief. He is now ready to share his story of what food has done for him, as well as his experiences that will last a lifetime.

From the streets of Pakistan to the Big Apple, Amaan has been exposed to a plethora of cultures. In fact, his ethnic background and close familial ties have encouraged his interest in expanding his knowledge of both Western and Eastern food. His earliest memory of cooking stems from his life in Pakistan as a young boy. According to him, the Bazaar, a street food market, would give away any vegetables that were leftover for free. Amaan and his sister, Rida, used this as the perfect opportunity to experiment with food at an early age. Without a doubt, a child’s imagination has no limit and by studying their parents in the kitchen, the possibilities were endless for the Amir siblings. Little did Amaan know, those days of exploring the unknown would hold so much weight 15 years later.

While dwelling in Pakistan, the Amir family had a tradition to eat out once a week, aside from their own homemade Pakistani dishes. Therefore, Amaan was exposed to several types of food, being Chinese, American, and South Asian. However, succeeding in his move to America, his options broadened significantly. Furthermore, Amir’s greatest recollection of his elementary school, P.S. 213, was how culturally diverse it was. He never shied away from the opportunity to introduce his classmates to where he came from and thankfully enough, they accepted him with open arms.

I went to a really diverse elementary school. It was well funded, and they had a lot of cultural exchange programs throughout the year, so I took advantage of that. I was always very proud of my culture. I was fresh off the boat, and I was excited to let people know who I am and where I am from. I could not wait to make connections. No one ever judged me, but instead they were pretty receptive. It was a great experience.

Amaan Amir

The mother of the Amir household, Saima, set and maintained a certain standard of cooking within the family. She consistently put in maximum effort, by making her meals from scratch and taught her children the importance of their food being homemade. As time passed and Rida entered high school, she began to cook more seriously, while Amaan assisted her whenever he could. However, she eventually took on more responsibilities. Luckily around the same time, Amaan’s schedule had more flexibility.

During his high school career, his passion for cooking sprouted tremendously. He started off by making easy pasta dishes for himself, but gradually as his knowledge and confidence grew, Amaan began to share his meals with others. In fact, he would even cook for his friends’ parties and accept any feedback he was given, to further perfect his craft.

With more experience under his belt, Amaan opened up to the possibilities of making East Asian dishes such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Thankfully, the neighborhoods he has resided in thus far including Bayside, Fresh Meadows and Flushing, have always provided him with access to fresh produce, as well as a variety of markets. He took advantage of this liberty and ventured out into more recipes from distinct cultures.

That’s honestly what allowed me to expand my horizons. I was able to walk into a market I thought was interesting and look at different ingredients and see how they are put together. But a lot of people in other parts of the city have problems acquiring fresh produce. In general, in terms of cooking, the biggest part is the access to valuable resources.

The Amir family, who are devout Muslims, faithfully only eat halal food. According to Amaan, halal is centered on how one raises and slaughters animals and how one prepares their meals. In fact, there is a strong emphasis on providing livestock with a humane upbringing. In Islam, as stated in the Quran, blood is not to be consumed due to the impurities that it comes with. When killing an animal, one must hit a major artery in the neck area to ensure all blood is drained before it can be sold on the market. Therefore, pork is strictly forbidden as it is viewed as an unclean and vile animal. However, all other meats that are halal and herbivores are permissible, as well as any type of seafood.

Amid COVID-19, the Amir siblings created new dishes daily. They were so consistent and determined in the kitchen that their father, Muhammad, who is known to be supportive of his children’s passions, encouraged them to make their own YouTube channel. According to Amaan, his dad is immensely business oriented, so much so, that he once owned his own Desi and fast-food restaurant in Queens, called 786 Food Express.

On January 16, 2021, Amaan finally established his highly anticipated cooking page on Instagram, Meerz Kitchen. According to Amaan, “Meerz” is a play on word derived from the mispronunciation of his last name, while the z was added for a catchy appeal. At first, he was solely comfortable with uploading photos of his dishes, with a detailed description as the caption. However, in February of ’22 he challenged himself with his first step-by-step methodical video, on how he makes Desi breakfast eggs, and the rest is history.

Amaan’s initial goal of Meerz Kitchen was to officially introduce his love for cooking to the world, along with his brand and style. Thus far he has been hesitant to make his Instagram page more personal since he is known to be very private. Nonetheless, he is finally ready to show his viewers the face behind the camera, to ensure a better connection with him and an understanding of who he is.

As of now, Amaan is well versed in East Asian dishes, as well as an occasional West Asian and American dish. Currently, his favorite dish to cook is beef stir fry served with onions, peppers, and mushrooms. However, regardless of what he is acclimated with, Amaan craves ambition and is constantly working towards expanding his cooking skills.

I’m really comfortable with cooking up a stir fry or fried rice, basically Chinese and Korean dishes. I still experiment a lot, so if I see a recipe that I am not used to cooking, but I think it would taste good, I will go for it. For example, I made cabbage rolls that taste so good, which is a Turkish dish. I will also sometimes cook American foods like roast chicken and try different sauces, but I still want to explore more ingredients and products. Being equipped to know how to use that and put certain flavors together is what makes you a better cook and is overall just great to add to my knowledge.

As of this past May, Amaan has graduated from Queens College after four studious and tenacious years. More specifically, he has earned his bachelor’s degree with a double major in Communications, Sciences and Disorders, also known as Linguistics, and History. Alongside his college career, Amaan worked in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) as a behavior tech from June ’21 to January ’23.

However, as the new year came, he began to strongly reflect on what his future entails. Given the circumstances, Amaan decided to do some “soul searching” and see for himself if cooking is worth pursuing as a full-time career. Therefore, this past February, he joined the culinary youth services program at the non-profit, Stanley M. Isaac’s Neighborhood Center, where he can build his resume and network for a year. Within the first two months, he learned the basics, including weekly topics like sauces, breads, and meats.

Meanwhile, the second half of this program consists of a three-to-four-month internship with culinary professionals in the field who are affiliated with the center. Amaan first began interning at a commercial kitchen, e.terra, a place where members can rent the space to cook for their own business. Subsequently, he moved onto a traditional restaurant at Rosemary’s East. Nonetheless, these two establishments stifled his creativity. Fortunately, another opportunity was available.

Luckily, my supervisor from the culinary program was promoted and opened her own soup kitchen for the Stanley Isaac’s Center, called Soup’s Up. This soup kitchen makes 250-300 vegetarian meals for the senior citizens in the area.

Amaan’s drive for success and to perfect his craft does not end there. Although working part time at Soup’s Up is a great foundation and the next step into his cooking journey, he is already planning on how to channel more creativity, as well as building his own brand. Not only is Amaan in the works of adding more personalized content creation to Meerz Kitchen, but his ambition has led him into his next venture, selling his food.

Opportunely, Amaan discovered a delivery service app for cooking businesses by the name of, Shef, simultaneously when the company was looking for someone to be a part of their upcoming halal chef campaign. This would entail more coverage, features and overall great publicity to spread Amaan’s brand. In addition to interning at Soup’s Up and preparing for a summer launch, with the help of the Stanley M. Isaac’s Neighborhood Center, Amaan is exploring his desires of being a chef instructor, as well as a caterer for private events.

With a fresh college degree and an ever-growing passion, Amaan must make an essential decision about his future. As of now, he is taking a gap year to focus on bettering himself as a cook. However, after six months of indecision, he is more certain than ever of the plan for his life. He claims that adhering to his core identity is the best route for him. Considering he is a very practical person and knows how much his family has sacrificed thus far, going to graduate school by the Fall of 2024 is the goal. More specifically, Amaan plans to take the GRE this year, earn his masters after two more years of school and then finally become a speech therapist.

I want a stable career at the end of the day. I am not going to forget how far my family has come and how much they struggled. I only want to go forward from that. To do that I would have to choose the safer option, which is not ideal, but if it ensures I will have a comfortable life and can maybe pursue my passion in the future I would rather choose that. I have come to the conclusion that I should use a steady job to fuel my passion, rather than making my passion my job.

Therefore, while being a speech therapist, Amaan will continue his chef business as a side hustle until he has the financial base to take the risks of becoming a full-time chef. The sky is the limit and although Amaan has his life mapped out, he never knows what blessing might be thrown his way in the meantime. From Pakistan to Queens, Amaan’s journey has introduced him to a variety of cultures and without a doubt, his knowledge as well as his experiences are shown through his love of cooking.