Nazila loved to cook from childhood. Her first recipe "Blackberry delight" appeared in her 4th grade class cookbook.  Back then, she reveled in the availability of fresh, local ingredients. Instead of taking typing in Junior High School, she took Cooking 2.  In fact, she took Cooking 2 before she took Cooking 1, so things got easier from then.  Her poor family had to tolerate her desire to cook strange things such as "Boeuf Bourgignon" and filled crepes. In her late teens and through her mid 20s she was a vegetarian with the occasional lapse into a lox bagel . She wasn't a mean vegetarian, but to this day she cannot eat Jane Brody's brown rice/lentil soup without getting ill.

Cooking became a necessity when she went to college - see brown/rice lentil soup issue above. She lived by the Vegetarian Epicure and Moosewood cookbook.  Over time, her repetoire expanded and she added new cookbooks to her collection.  When she met TH, she was amazed by the number of condiments in her refrigerator and realized that salami wouldn't kill her. 

She hasn't looked back.