Our work-from-home schedules, movie nights in and an altogether house-bound life has also resulted in food being one of the only links we’ve got left with external entertainment. How many of us are now dependent on food deliveries as means of happiness, piling on pandemic pounds as a result? Reassuringly, I’d also like to believe that we are also living in an increasingly health-conscious world and despite the odds (agreed that there have been many), we like to look for healthy options, whenever available. Exit chips. Enter hummus.

With the sad closure of popular Lebanese hang outs like Baituti and Zaatar, The Hummus Life Chose Me has emerged as a tiny but extremely popular go-to place for authentic flavours. Hummus Life does business by platter and their three platters – The Halal Guys Platter, The Hummus Platter and The Chicken Souvlaki Platter – can sufficiently feed 3-4 people. The platters have a healthy combination of proteins, pita, rice, salads and dipping sticks and are a full meal for the health conscious.

Started by mother-son duo Nasreen and Adeel, Hummus Life is a humble home business that comes in with international exposure, experience and health and hygiene awareness.

“I lived in the US for eight years, and was close to NYC for the last two of them,” Adeel shared. “I’d frequently visit Manhattan and 53rd and 6th Ave for Halal Guys. Knew the palette well and so mum and I started experimenting. After laborious tweaking, our version was pretty close in taste. Mum also made amazing hummus and so we instantly had two products in mind to begin with. Mum is all operations, really the queen behind it all. This is her thing and this is my side gig with her. I’m also busy managing our family businesses with this as one of my creative outlets.”

Out of all the food options you must have experienced in NY, why did you decide to start a hummus delivery in Karachi?

“This was an intentional decision. We just wanted people to eat hummus as a healthy alternative meal as opposed to just an appetizer,” says Adeel. “It goes well, not only with carbs ie: bread/pita etc but also with veggies and pickled olives. It’s also very filling, so you have a meal that is fat and protein efficient but is also very tasty. It caters to all kinds of food lovers: those who are health conscious and also those who are taste centric.”

The Hummus platters have been a hit in Ramazan, also because they’re packaged so well in clean white boxes; the packaging makes them extremely giftable.

When will they be making falafels, I asked, because the chickpea snack is one of my personal favourites and is seldom done to perfection.

“So, we have been trying to finalize a recipe, it’s just in its final stages. Falafels are pretty difficult to get right: they need to be airy, light, with right crisp to it. So currently working on that. We’re also looking to bring in more protein options, beef is next IA.”

Here’s to healthy eating!