What do you get when you take two longtime friends, add in a deep love for cooking, childhoods that straddled being steeped in traditional Indian culture and growing up as kids of the ‘80s in Chicago? And, toss in a willingness to throw caution to the wind and pursue our dreams.
We call it straight up
NAANSENSE
We’re Hiran (H) and Viral (V) Patel, long time friends and the founders of Naansense.
Hiran’s journey with food and travel started as a young boy. Being raised in a large family that crossed many oceans - East Africa, to India, to England, then finally Chicago - family meals reflected the cultural changes they adopted along the way.
On a trip to India, H discovered the magic of Indian street food carts, which felt like coming home as he experienced the food at the heart of his family’s cooking. He never extinguished that spark and eventually followed his passion for cooking.
Meanwhile, long time friend Viral decided to hang up his suit and move to south east Asia to scratch the itch of travel, exploration, and of course, eating. While living in India, V realized how playful Indian food was and mused why he couldn’t get these rich flavors at home.
After many long nights filled with business plans, eating and drinking, we decided to start Naansense in hopes of capturing our culture’s essence through our lens. We are excited to bring you along on our journey.
WHEN YOU EAT A MEAL AT NAANSENSE, WE FUND A SCHOOL MEAL FOR A CHILD LIVING IN POVERTY IN INDIA.
IGNORING THE ABJECT POVERTY THAT WE WITNESS EVERY TIME WE TRAVEL BACK TO INDIA WAS NO LONGER AN OPTION . THAT’S WHY WE DONATE A MEAL TO A CHILD IN INDIA FOR EVERY MEAL PURCHASED.
WE ARE MAKING LUNCH TWICE AS SATISFYING.
