Brian Rudolph says eating a plateful of pasta will no longer “leave you feeling like c**p”, provided you choose his product, Banza.
Rudolph has opted for ‘a simple switch’ in making pasta that has made all the difference. Banza, the power-packed pasta, is made of chickpeas instead of wheat.
Chickpeas have long been recognized as a nutritious grain. As a snack, they keep your blood sugar levels stable and control hunger pangs. In Banza, the carb content is half that of wheat pasta; and in comparison, you get twice the amount of protein and four times the fiber of regular pasta. For those following a diet plan, there’s more good news — Banza is gluten-free!
Rudolph says perfecting the recipe involved 10 months of trial and error but his conviction that “people want to eat better”, but also love comfort food, kept him going. He derived the brand name from garbanzo-pasta, settling on the easily-remembered and fun-sounding ‘Banza’.
At $4 for an 8oz box, this ‘al dente’ dinner isn’t likely to put a dent in your wallet, compared to other more expensive ‘health foods’. Launched in two US stores last year, Banza sales are already booming; it’s now selling in 1700 stores all over America, with plans to spread business abroad.
Along with his brother Scott, Rudolph has his sights set on giving a healthy twist to other foods we hate doing away with, like cereal and pizza.