Berlin-based family business Froyda launched Germany’s first low FODMAP ready meals earlier this year. Their curries and soups are now available in Australia and New Zealand.
Full of flavour and packed with nourishing vegetables, Froyda’s curries and soups are handcrafted with 100% organic ingredients, then gently preserved in glass jars. Ready in minutes - simply heat and enjoy with rice or low FODMAP bread. Froyda’s meals are 100% plant-based, gluten-free, certified organic and Monash low FODMAP certified.
We spoke to Pranav and Kaly Bihari, co-founders at Froyda, to learn more.
Kaly: I had been suffering from IBS for over a decade. Until only three years ago, I had never heard of the low FODMAP diet. Once I started following a low FODMAP diet, I very quickly experienced a great improvement in my symptoms. Needless to say, I was so happy to have discovered this diet. As Pranav and I learned more about the low FODMAP diet and joined online IBS forums, we realised that many people were struggling to follow the diet, especially when it came to eating out or finding ready meals to cater to their busy lifestyles.
Pranav: In Germany, and perhaps in the rest of the EU too, there are hardly any low FODMAP convenience foods on the market. We were excited about creating a meal offering that could help those suffering from IBS improve their quality of life. At the same time, we wanted our offering to be appealing to everyone without compromise in taste and quality, and with the best environmental credentials possible. More recently we have started a bistro in Berlin, where we offer many of our low FODMAP meals to locals.
Kaly: ’Freude’ in German means ‘joy’. Froyda is a play on that word and represents our intention to bring the joy of eating back to those suffering from IBS, gluten and/or lactose intolerance.
Pranav: One thing that helped us create our low FODMAP meals was that Kaly and I both grew up on a diet without onions and garlic. That might sound a bit unusual. But there are some schools of yoga in India that recommend a ‘sattvic’ vegetarian diet, free of onion and garlic. Both our parents followed this diet.
As such, we were already accustomed to using a variety of other herbs and spices to impart flavour in our cooking.
Having grown up as vegetarians, vegetables and legumes have always played a central role in our cooking. When we developed our curries and soups, we wanted to bring all the flavour and rich variety of plant-based Indian cooking to the market in a convenient ready to eat form.
At Froyda, we handcraft our meals in small batches in our 100 % organic and gluten-free kitchen. To achieve the best flavour and aroma, we create our own spice mixes with fresh whole spices, grinding and roasting them shortly before they are used to make our delicious curries. For our soups we use frozen herbs, which retain much more flavour than their dried versions.
Once our curries and soups are made, we preserve them in glass jars for ambient storage using a gentle heat and pressure process. During the recipe development stage all our recipes are reviewed and certified by the Monash University team, so that you can be absolutely sure that they are low FODMAP.
Pranav: We currently offer five different curries and two soups.
Fodshop will stock:
- Carrot Soup
- Supergreens Soup
- Chickpea Curry
- Korma Curry
- Lentil Curry
- Madras Curry
- Palak Tofu Curry
Currently the Froyda site carries:
- Korma Curry
-Madras Curry
- Palak Curry
- Carrot Soup
-Supergreens Soup
We have a number of other recipes in development that we aim to make available in the near future.
Kaly: Environmental sustainability is very close to our hearts. When creating our meals, we choose the most sustainable options possible. Our production kitchen runs entirely on renewable energy that is locally generated and owned, rather than imported. All our ingredients are organic, plant-based and are regionally sourced where possible. For example, the tofu we use is made from organic soy grown in Germany, free from GMO and pesticides and rainforest destruction. Finally, all our curries and soups are preserved in glass and packaged in plastic-free cartons. Neither ice packs, nor insulation material, nor chilling equipment is required for storage and transport. This results in less waste and a lower carbon footprint.
For deliveries in Australia and New Zealand, order from https://fodshopper.com.au/collections/froyda
For delivery within Germany and in other EU countries order through our online shop at https:// froyda.de.
