Bites of Delight is the result of the enthusiasm of Issam Dagher and myself -Melissa Abs- for nutrition and healthy living. Our successful bond allowed us to establish Bites of Delight in 2015. It all started when we realized that finding a natural healthy and affordable gluten-free snack was actually challenging.
“gluten-free” products on the market were either imported or locally produced: Imported products were too expensive and included high levels of fat along with additives and preservatives to extend the product’s shelf life. On the other hand, locally produced ones were made in facilities that also processed wheat and non-gluten free ingredients!

Call us blindly optimistic but we decided to put an end to this phenomenon. Crafting a healthy gluten and lactose free biscuits recipe started out as a university project and it proved to be a very challenging one! After over a year of meticulous research and failed trials, the recipe was finally ready!
With the support of our family and friends, we set our minds on launching Bites of Delight on the Lebanese market and producing healthy snacks to please the eye, the taste buds and most importantly the gut by taking into consideration major intolerances and allergies.

It started out as a university project for two health-freaks of dietitians and progressively transitioned into a 100% gluten free factory that produces health snacks, such as biscuits, crackers and sticks.
Bites of delight’s snacks are all gluten-free, wheat-free, GMO-free, palm oil-free, vegan, preservative-free and yeast-free. Our snacks are high in nutrients, low in fat, suitable for dieters and will make your taste buds go WOW! We are looking in the near future to provide a broader range of products and maybe, just maybe, this proud Lebanese brand could go international!

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Issam Dagher

The Mastermind

A fitness enthusiast, certified food safety professional and a nutrition and dietetics graduate from a notable university in Lebanon, Issam utilized a scientific evidence-based approach to optimize the ingredients and development process of Bites of Delight gluten free snacks. Science cannot take all the credit with Issam though as his skills run in the Dagher family that’s been in the bakery industry for over 30 years.

Melissa Abs

The Fireball

The go-getter, the one that keeps things going! She doesn’t take no for an answer and is dedicated to bringing Bites of Delight closer to people through social media, events and proper distribution. Our fireball graduated top of her class with both a nutrition and a business degree. Melissa is a research enthusiast who will never let a new study slip past her without dissecting it. She ensures that only the healthiest ingredients are in production.

Every morning my addiction kicks in - I open the fridge, grab the commercial peanut butter jar and spoon out from it my morning fix…that’s breakfast!

One bright morning, I … It occurred to me once to have a look at the ingredients of my peanut butter. To my utter dismay, the three main ingredients of my cherished breakfast were: hydrogenated fat, palm oil and sugar - all of which are food molecules with untoward effects on our health.

Hence off to work using the most potent tool modern man has: the WEB. I found a website that demonstrated how to make peanut butter from scratch, from wholesome ingredients in the comfort of my own home. The process seemed rather easy. Right away, I put my arms around our little electrical grinder sitting idly in the bottom shelf of the bottom kitchen cupboard. In there went my peanuts and the machine was set to work hard grinding them. To the ground nuts, all I added was a bit of walnut oil and a pinch of salt. The product was pleasantly smooth and buttery. I took it with me to work so my friends could try it. Imaging my elation when they seemed to love it and they all asked me for more!

So that is when, in February 2014, I decided to start selling my peanut butter. But I did not want my product to be something regular; I envisioned a special something that- when introduced to the market- would have its own distinctive niche, somewhere away from the routine, the normal, the boring branding of supplies and the monotonous sales of commercially prepared, chemically impregnated, foods. On top of that, the crown jewel of my nascent eureka thoughts, was my background degree in marketing.

In March 2014, I produced my first batch of Peanut Butter and the word of mouth started flying amongst my friends. I then created my Instagram account and that’s when phone calls started coming in- with their sweet ringers and exciting prospects.

In October 2014, it was my first participation at Souk El Tayeb which opened many doors for me since we meet shop owners, franchisers, dietitians and food bloggers who expose our products to the world.

Now, it is not only about peanut butter; I have a full range of nut and seed butters adding to them tastes such as chili, vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate sometimes Chia seeds or Hemp seeds. I even do spreads such as Olive and Fig Tapenade, Basil or Kale pesto and the heavenly granolas. All that with staunch emphasis on using natural, wholesome, healthy basic ingredients to establish a quality in my product that would nourish loyal customers’ bodies and taste buds, and hence would nurture them to stay loyal to it.

As I make my nightly batches and contemplate over the day which just passed- a day consumed by my other job and by unending errands - my thoughts return to the warmth of that moment. It is the moment of enjoyment as I fill up my jars, a moment of satisfaction, of merriment and utter involvement that would very smoothly wipe away the hectic pace of that day. I can stay up all night creating my nut butters.

These are the jars made with healthful ingredients, sprinkled with lots of love, topped by genuine passion and hand delivered with a heart inside.

A few years back, I unfortunately faced health challenges - I had trouble breathing well and I wasn’t feeling well at all. Luckily, I met someone who, compared to us, believed in traditional and more natural approaches to health. He gave me one simple advice: to experiment with food and attempt to cut out dairy from my diet. With everything I was feeling at the time, I figured ‘why not?’. I committed and gave myself a few months to test it. That’s when I started experiencing the differences and my allergies started disappearing bit by bit.  At one point, my restrictions became extreme, however, this deepened my curiosity and I started experimenting with food alternatives - it was a personal journey of exploration that began around 15 years ago. I looked at how we can play around with raw natural and pure ingredients and I attempted to transform Lebanese food in order to fit in during our Sunday family gatherings. Many experimentations later, I created ‘Chakala’. What’s special about this spread is that it is suitable for people with diabetes - 1 tbsp (around 60g) equals one portion of fruit; which is ideal for some people who suffer from diabetes. It is naturally sweetened with dates and does not cause a sudden sugar spike. It is a clean and healthy product and a fight against refined sugars. This  simple product proves that healthy could be great - and the only secret ingredient is Love. Like everything I do, I created Chakala, with main aim of making solutions available for people who need it. Every individual knows what works for him and my target is to reach those people and give them all the support they need.

Randa (1978) is a culinary artist: A holistic dietitian, food technologist, recipe creator and baker.

She loves to create in the kitchen and experience health through food.  “Cooking is my relation to slowing down. It is a way to connect and share with people.”  And she’s on a mission to make the world a more delicious place. Randa lives in the suburbs and her time in the village is spent foraging and enjoying nature, the biggest healer of all times.

KENZA KITCHEN (2008) What started then as “from scratch” products rapidly evolved into a vegan organic abundance of munchies and desserts without refined sugar, gluten or wheat. Imagine a lifestyle where health flourishes, dessert is the most important meal of the day and calories are bygones.

At Kenza kitchen we believe sharing is rebellious. Follow us on instagram to learn recipes & health tricks to suit every season

The Good Thymes is the brainchild of Fady Aziz; designer by day and nature-lover around the clock, Fady sought a project that would take him away from his desk and screen, closer to earth and his birthplace in the countryside of Southern Lebanon. His love for the distinctive savor of Lebanese thyme lead him to start an agriculture venture in Kfar-Hoûné and its surroundings, where he procured a number of abandoned centenarian terraces and set up a zaatar farm.

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Once the zaatar shrubs planted, Fady set off on a journey with the best chefs and specialists in Beirut to take the wild herb beyond its savory potential. A wide range of high-quality dry thyme mixes, spices and other creations were concocted, either based on traditional local recipes or freshly imagined fusions, all celebrating the authentic Lebanese flavors.

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Keeping up the good traditions of homemade products, all The Good Thymes goods are handmade, all-natural, free from artificial colors or flavors, and without any additives or preservatives. Being a wild herb, Lebanese thyme needs nothing more than the naturally fertile soil of the South, sunlight and clean water to thrive.

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The Good Thymes thrives to be more than the go-to shop for top-grade thyme mixes, it is determined to offer a savory voyage around thyme, revealing the authentic taste of Lebanon, whether in the online store, the workshop in Kfar-Hoûné, or the stands in food festivals and fairs.