Rim Cuisine’s tackling responsible ready-to-eat meals only for Lufavores.

Behind our ready-made meals of salads, sandwiches, soups, pastas, pizzas, and so much more, are chefs who work through the night to bring Lufavores dishes made the morning of their order. Prioritizing responsible, traceable ingredients above all else, this section of the Marketplace is built around meals that are literally as fresh as you can get - giving you a well-deserved break from the kitchen. 

Thanks to Axel (our ready-made meal expert), we found Ihab (the chef behind Rim Cuisine) and his commercial kitchen located a mere three minutes from our Ville Saint-Laurent distribution centre. He’s dedicated his entire production to feeding Lufavores, adding simple and fresh sandwiches and ready-to-heat pizzas to the Marketplace. 

Meet Ihab: Lufavores’ personal chef.

Growing up in Beirut, Ihab loved to cook with his mother and always looked forward to visits with his grandmother (who was a low-key culinary celebrity in her village). After high school, he started studying economics but soon pivoted back, realizing that the best place for him would always be in the kitchen. 

Ihab’s happiest with an apron on and you can often find him dancing and even singing in his kitchen (named after one of his daughters). Working in the industry for over 27 years and backed by many cooking courses, he’s been a chef in Italy, Lebanon, Syria, and Dubai among other phenomenal food destinations, and previously owned three restaurants around the globe. 

A partnership like no other.

What stood out to Axel the most was Ihab’s creativity. Whether it’s making mayonnaise out of avocados, or steeping then removing whole carrots in his tomato sauce for their natural sugars to cut down acidity (genius!), Axel learns hacks and tricks from him every day. Because of his grandmother’s influence, Ihab never uses anything with preservatives, pre-made, or canned, and cooks with simple ingredients just like the meals he ate back in Lebanon. Nothing passes through the kitchen without Ihab inspecting it fully, down to every last ingredient. 

Nowadays, Ihab works exclusively with Axel to fill in gaps in our offering - starting with morning-made sandwiches of all kinds using bread baked in-house, and far-from-your-average frozen pizzas, both using almost all ingredients found on the Marketplace. 

Up for anything, at the height of summer Ihab helped us reduce food waste by turning our extra rooftop tomatoes into an incredible sauce, one that would make his grandmother proud. With risotto, paella, and more ideas on the horizon, he’s just scratching the surface of Rim Cuisine’s culinary repertoire.