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Preserving culinary heritage through SheharBano’s Virsa
Be it a beginner or a trained chef, the recipes are easy to follow and a 'no-fail'
- PUBLISHED: Thu 14 Aug 2025, 10:15 AM
- By:
- Ghazala Tikki Zaman and Tabassum Vally
Virsa literally translates into heritage, a way of life gone by. In 2020, SheharBano brought to the culinary world a gem in the form of a recipe book, Virsa.
SheharBano has an innate love for culture, tradition, and food. Blessed with a very refined palate for food, she feared that many recipes from the subcontinent are now disappearing into oblivion. The recipes that made an integral part of household culinary traditions, prepared with much care and skill, are taking a new form in less labour-intensive recipes in today’s fast-paced world.
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We are now surrounded by cafés and restaurants, and the art of wholesome home-cooked food is slowly fading. However, her family recipes from the subcontinent were too precious to be allowed to perish.
This inspired and motivated SheharBano to collect and preserve these old recipes in her book Virsa.
SheharBano’s journey with the book is twofold. “When my father passed away in 2018, I wanted to do something in his memory. He was a dedicated ophthalmologist and a philanthropist, and I wanted to dedicate the book to him. The book is also a celebration of the dedication my mother has shown for the family, and hence I have written this book as a dedication to both my parents,” she explains.
Virsa is a compilation of traditional, old recipes from the subcontinent. SheharBano has very skilfully compiled the recipes with colourful illustrations. In her own words, the “recipes were carefully chosen for the book, keeping in mind various skill sets of cooking.” Be it a beginner or a trained chef, the recipes are easy to follow and a “no-fail.”
SheharBano herself loves to experiment with different recipes, and each illustration in the book has been personally tried and tested by her.
Virsa is a non-profit book, and the proceeds of the book have helped many patients from every walk of life in restoring their eyesight.
The ease of recipes and the colourful illustrations have won the book two awards. In 2021, Virsa won the prestigious Gourmand Award as “The Best Cookbook” in Paris, and in 2023, it won the Gourmand Award for “The Best of the Best Since the Past 20 Years” in Riyadh.
The book is available to all cooking enthusiasts in the UAE and is one of the best-sellers on Amazon.