Inventor Maurice Kanbar introduces natural food product...SooFoo!

Spring is here and with it comes a delicious new addition to consumers’ breakfast, lunch and dinner tables around the country: “SooFoo™,” a gourmet low-fat, sodium and cholesterol-free blend of brown rice, grains and lentils.

SooFoo is the brainchild of inventor, entrepreneur, author, film producer and master distiller Maurice Kanbar. Having made SooFoo for years for himself in his own San Francisco kitchen, Kanbar created and honed the “perfect” combination of nine ingredients that comprise SooFoo over time. They include: California-grown long-grain brown rice; brown lentils; wheat berries; oats; barley; black lentils; rye berries; green lentils and buckwheat. Kanbar decided to market SooFoo commercially at the urging of friends and family. “I decided to call it SooFoo because it is super good food,” Kanbar recalls.

SooFoo is 100 percent natural with five grams of protein per quarter-cup (45 grams) dry serving. A good source of fiber (with 16 percent of daily value per serving), it has no additives or preservatives.

“SooFoo is terrific. The whole grains and plant-based protein help to support a healthy heart,” says San Francisco physician and nutrition specialist Melina B. Jampolis, www.drmelina.com. “I highly recommend including SooFoo in your diet on a regular basis.”

SooFoo is a versatile food that can be served as a side dish or a main dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner. A terrific soup starter, home chefs can also use SooFoo for stuffings and salads.

SooFoo is headed to store shelves with wider distribution starting later this month. It’s already been test-marketed around the Bay Area, and is available at a wide range of gourmet supermarkets and health food stores there including Draeger's Markets, Mollie Stone's Markets, Fresh Organics and Real Foods. National distribution is being put in place, and customers can soon also order direct from the web site: www.soo-foo.com. Vice President of Sales & Marketing Jim McCullough says, “we’ve really been encouraged by the regional response to SooFoo. San Francisco and Bay Area consumers are both curious and nutritionally conscious, and SooFoo fits right into their eclectic, healthful cuisine.”

McCullough is also reaching out to chefs nationwide to cook with SooFoo and incorporate it into restaurant dishes. SooFoo will be available initially in one-pound (454 gram) bags for consumer use and 25-pound bags for bulk retailers and foodservice distributors.

“SooFoo is a delicious, nutritious way to eat healthfully,” Kanbar concludes. “Everyone equates health food with bland, flavorless dishes and products, but people will love the taste of SooFoo. It’s imperative as a society we get healthy and I’m delighted to bring SooFoo to the nation to help. To your health!”