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A health-conscious Bahraini duo are using their homemade treats to help the kingdom realise that healthy eating needn’t be bland.
Friends Farzanah Ziaeen, 44, and Neshat Nateq, 55, from Hamad Town, both operate home-run businesses preparing delicious snacks made with seeds and dried fruits respectively and showcased their ranges at the recent Market 338 in Adliya.
Farzanah said: “We’ve been friends for 20 years and since both of our products are about eating healthy food we decided to share a stall and have had a fantastic response.”
Farzanah started her business back in March after finding out her husband Adel Jaberi, 46, had high cholesterol.
“It got me thinking about how people don’t take care of themselves and one of the best ways to take care of yourself is to eat healthy food.
“There are so many people in Bahrain, even children, with diabetes and high cholesterol, things that can often be avoided with a proper diet.
“I thought about how I could help make people healthier, especially my own family, I started experimenting with different recipes for crackers and it just kind of took off from there.”
Farzanah’s tasty treats are made using natural ingredients including flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, barley, oats and corn.
One of Farzanah’s biggest fans is her daughter Lilian, six, who takes the crackers to school with her and is often inundated with requests to share them with her friends.
Meanwhile, Neshat’s dried fruit snacks are proving to be equally popular in the kingdom and have turned the retired University of Bahrain teacher’s hobby into a thriving venture.
Neshat said: “This has always been a hobby for me and after retirement I have more time for it. I think that many people live sedentary lifestyles and sit in front of the TV eating junk food. My feeling is that if you want to have a snack, why not eat something that is good for you?
“I remember the first time I tried dried fruits at somebody’s house and I thought it was great. Later on I researched how to do it myself and have been doing it ever since.”
Neshat says that it is a long process that requires a lot of patience as it can take anywhere from 10-16 hours to dry the fruits properly.
She said: “It’s time consuming, but I think it’s worth it. Also I get all of my ingredients fresh from the market and there are no additives and no sugar, it’s as natural as can be.”
Her husband Nabeel, 60, children Ahmed, 30, Faeq, 27, and Layla, 23, are all supportive of her venture.
“Everyone has their own favourite fruit and, besides customers, my family also often make requests, which keep me busy.”
For details on Farzanah’s crackers and sweets, call 36669099 or visit her Instagram @alfon2. For details on Neshat’s dried fruits, call 39607963 or visit her Instagram @neshatfruits.
