Loafology is a cafe and bakery based in Islamabad, Pakistan. They specialize in bread and have a variety of different European cultures in the form of baked produce. Their shelves are lined with cakes, bagels, Croissants, baguettes and many other delicious items that one would just want to dig into.
Nicole Waheed is half Aussie half polish, who was a lawyer in London, and who married a Pakistani. Loafology was her way of introducing the European culture and food in Pakistan.
Owned by Nicole Waheed who is half Aussie half polish, who was a lawyer in London, and who married a Pakistani. Loafology was her way of introducing the European culture and food in Pakistan. The risk was massive for Nicole because a Bakery or any eatery was out of her professional comfort zone. Furthermore, the population of Pakistan is full of culturally rich people who, stereotypically, usually don’t really like anything outside their norms to infiltrate their society. Nicole decided to open up Loafology Despite the odds of success looking down upon her but managed to become the talk of the town.
Change is something very hard to adjust to especially if you belong to a very culturally rich and stubborn community and Loafology witnessed that first hand when the majority of its customers were the foreigners residing in Islamabad. But soon the native community entered through the doors as if the smell of freshly baked bread guided them in like the pied piper, forcing them to put a piece in their mouths that would just melt away on their palate taking them to where ever the bread was invented. This made the population realize that change isn’t so bad, infact was deliciously necessary.
She gets her flour from Poland, her cheese, butter and cream from France, her coffee from Brazil and her tea from the United Kingdom.
Whilst talking to the entrepreneur, we asked her the secret for those mouth watering treats and she ended up giving us a long list of imports that made Loafology unique. She gets her flour from Poland, her cheese, butter and cream from France, her coffee from Brazil and her tea from the United Kingdom. After hearing all that, one must come to the question of religion, is all that even Halal? Well yes, said the certificate that proved all their produce was indeed Halal. She then pointed out that all the organic produce is from Pakistan, praising the great quality of Pakistan’s agricultural products.
Nicole was welcomed warmly and that made her stay, she had witnessed the hospitality that Pakistan was once famous for first hand and that is what made her say that Pakistan was indeed her home. She also witnessed that Pakistanis, when they do face change, they embrace it whilst simultaneously preserving their old ways.
Nicole has become a role model for Pakistanis as she called Pakistan her home. She left everything she had in her country of origin, left everything she had in the country where she established herself as a lawyer and came to Pakistan, the country of origin of her husband. We are all aware of the story of the “foreign wife” in Pakistan, but she had something different to say. She was welcomed warmly and that made her stay, she had witnessed the hospitality that Pakistan was once famous for first hand and that is what made her say that Pakistan was indeed her home. She also witnessed that Pakistanis, when they do face change, they embrace it whilst simultaneously preserving their old ways. Nicole is proof that Pakistan is not all that bad or dangerous as the stereo types highlight, as she is a role model for foreign entrepreneurs, but more importantly, she is a role model for the natives of the country for she has managed to make Pakistan her home and identity.
watch our encounter with this entrepreneur in the video below