About

About Ahmad

From Mazar to Hamburg
I was born in Afghanistan, in 1994, during the civil war. My dad was working as a pilot at the time; my mom was a schoolteacher, and life in the city felt uncertain almost every day. Just a few months after I was born, my parents decided to move us to Hamburg, Germany, hoping for a quieter, safer future.

Growing Up in a Pizza Shop
In Hamburg my dad opened a small pizza restaurant. My earliest memories are of standing on a stool so I could reach the dough and help him knead, then folding shiny new pizza boxes after school and stacking them as high as I could. Years later he sold the shop to another family, but the smells of yeasty dough and bubbling sauce never left me.

Finding Balance in the Kitchen
I loved food so much that I soon became a chubby kid. At thirteen I set myself a simple goal: learn to cook meals that were just as tasty but a little lighter. Bit by bit—replacing cream with yogurt, frying with roasting—I watched the numbers on the scale drift down, and I felt quicker on my feet in the gym and happier in my clothes. My mum cheered me on; every Saturday we sat in front of the TV, copied Jamie Oliver’s notes, and headed straight to the kitchen to test them. After a few months of practice, Sunday lunch became my job. I turned out trays of roasted vegetables and bowls of pasta for my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and the warm smiles and empty plates at the end told me I’d done something right.

Side Quest: Martial Arts
From my early teens into my mid-twenties, I poured nearly every spare hour into martial arts—starting with Aikido, moving on to kung fu, then kickboxing, and finally settling on boxing. Training six days a week drilled discipline into my bones, carried me to tournaments, and even earned me a couple of national titles. More importantly, it taught me a rule that still guides my cooking: if you want your body to perform, every meal must be good fuel.

Working in Kitchens
After high school I worked in several restaurants. Some nights I ran the salad station; other nights I was the pizzaiolo, tossing dough like my dad once did. Those busy shifts taught me speed, teamwork, and the joy of watching guests smile over a plate of good food.

Plot Twist: Med School
Medicine found me almost by accident. I filled out one application on a whim, got the acceptance, and in a flash traded restaurant double-shifts for anatomy labs and late-night study groups. In my tiny student apartment—one burner, a mini-fridge, and barely enough counter space for a cutting board—I learned to stretch every ingredient and minute. Those late nights in that small kitchen showed me how to turn the simplest staples into satisfying meals, even when time, space, and budget were all in short supply.

Sharing Recipes Online
I started @dr.vegan and began posting the quick study-night meals I made during medical school; the straightforward recipes struck a chord. The account snowballed into a community of about seven million people across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, all cooking along with me. I earned my medical degree in 2023, but most days you’ll still find me in the kitchen—camera rolling—whipping up five-ingredient pastas, speedy curries, or a sizzling one-pan veggie skillet that comes together in ten minutes. One day I hope to open a restaurant that ties all these threads together; until then, I’m online, showing anyone who’s hungry how simple and satisfying good food can be.

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