From Kuwait to Pakistan to California, bringing tradition into everyday life.

About Babo

Babo's Kitchen makes Panjiri for today's pantry, starting with a centuries-old South Asian roasted snack and our family recipe made with moong lentils.


Rubab grew up between cultures and kitchens, shaped by the women, flavors, and everyday rituals that surrounded her. Born in Kuwait, raised in Pakistan, and now rooted in California, she learned early that food could carry more than nourishment; it could carry memory, belonging, and home.

Years later, during one of the hardest seasons of her life, she found her way back to those memories through cooking. She called aunties and grandmothers, relearned family recipes, and slowly filled her kitchen with the familiar aromas of toasted lentils, ghee, and cardamom. At the center of that journey was Panjiri - a traditional South Asian snack cherished for generations, known for its nourishing ingredients and everyday comfort.

Today, Babo's Kitchen brings that same spirit into modern life through heritage-inspired snacks made in California for today's pantry. Every bag of Babo's Panjiri is made in California from a family recipe passed down through the women in Rubab's family, a tradition now finding its place in kitchens far beyond where it began.

  • The Idea Behind Babo

    Babo represents the quiet force behind everything that works, the ones who carry, support, and make things possible, often without being seen. It’s an idea rooted in care, consistency, and the kind of effort that doesn’t ask for attention, but shapes everything around it.

  • Rooted in Everyday Moments

    That idea lives in the kitchens, routines, and small moments that hold everything together. It reflects the women, the traditions, and the ways food has always been used to nourish, support, and bring people back to themselves.

  • Built Into Everything We Make

    Babo’s Kitchen carries that same energy into the food itself, simple, intentional, and made to support everyday life. Nothing complicated, nothing performative, just something you can trust, return to, and share.

Our Values

  • Rooted in community, made to be shared.

  • Nourishment built in, for everyday life.

  • Connection rooted in where we come from.

FAQs

  • Panjiri is a centuries-old South Asian roasted snack traditionally made with ingredients like flour or semolina, ghee, nuts, seeds and warming spices. Babo’s family recipe uses roasted moong lentils instead of semolina or wheat flour, creating a crunchy, gluten-free Panjiri made for everyday snacking.

  • Babo’s Panjiri is made without gluten-containing ingredients and is produced with a gluten-free recipe. Our products are made in facilities that also handle wheat and other allergens, so please check the allergen information on each product if you have an allergy or specific dietary needs.

  • Yes. Babo’s Panjiri contains almonds and ghee (milk), and our Panjiri Crunch Bars contain dairy and tree nuts. Some products may also contain sesame. Please check the ingredient and allergen information on each product page or package, especially if you have a food allergy.

  • We make ours with roasted moong lentils instead of the semolina or wheat flour used in many Panjiri recipes. It’s ghee-roasted, gluten-free and oat-free, with almonds, coconut, melon seeds, makhana, edible gum and cardamom. No oats, protein powders or additives. Just our crunchy take on Panjiri, made for everyday snacking.

  • Our Original Panjiri is lightly sweetened with brown sugar, while our Unsweetened Panjiri has no added sugar. Panjiri Crunch Bars are made with 61% dark chocolate and contain sugar. Check each product page for full ingredients and nutrition information.

  • Babo’s products are made in California with trusted production partners. Our Panjiri is made from our family recipe using the same slow roasting process we developed from the beginning, now produced at a scale that lets us bring it to more pantries.