oUr sTOry
This story started way over in Sri Lanka where a Scot (Alastair) and a Belgian (Hannah) fell in love with each other and Sri Lankan cuisine, specifically the humble daal. For a whole month, the lentil-based dish became a big part of our life, from mid-morning brunches, quick takeaways to late-night scrans: we went daal all the way. It kept us full and fuelled for long days of working and surfing.
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Back home — traveling between Scotland and Belgium — our spice tolerance went back to the European average and it became hard to find our go-to-meal: supermarket daal was either bland or too fiery, and restaurant daal was expensive and a lil bit to formal. This is where the idea began.
Before long, our kitchen turned into a daal lab, with countless cooking sessions and tasting nights shared with friends, family, neighbours and strangers — those who already loved daal, and those who quickly learned to.
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It soon became clear that the real reason people don’t eat daal more often is simple: they just don’t have a daaler!
A year of refining recipes and eating our daal almost daily!
Proudly presenting our first final daal (the red one) on a dinner with all our neighbours!
Falling in love with Edinburgh! Choice made - Hannah's moving from Belgium to Scotland!
aBoUt uS
ALASTAIR
With a background in graphic design and an unshakable entrepreneurial drive, it came naturally for him to pour his whole heart into this project. What started as a shared love for good food quickly became a creative mission — to make something that looks as good as it tastes.
For him, being a daaler is about more than serving great food; it’s about building something from scratch, shaping ideas into reality, and making sure every little detail — from the logo to the ladle — tells the same story. He’s the visual storyteller, the brand architect, and the guy who somehow keeps everything both beautiful and functional.
When he’s not “taste-testing” for the tenth time (for R&D, obviously), he’s the one keeping the ideas flowing and making a plan to bring them to life. He’s the perfect mix of dreamer and realist — the one who can imagine big, bold ideas and then actually make them happen.
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HANNAH
With a Master’s in Environmental Engineering and having long been fascinated by the environmental and health benefits of a plant-based diet, she chose to dedicate herself fully to promoting sustainable choices through something as simple and essential as food. After a year pursuing a PhD in biological wastewater treatment, she made the leap — trading lab coats for aprons — to become a full-time Daaler.
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With a background in industrial microbiology, she’s endlessly curious about how the microbiome connects to everything — from digestion and mental health to sustainable agriculture. She came to see that lentils contribute to wellbeing along the entire food chain: they enrich the soil, nourish the body, and support a healthy gut.
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For her, being a Daaler is about making good, honest food accessible to everyone, driving the shift toward plant-based protein, and standing firmly against the waste and harm of industrial animal farming. It’s about promoting sustainable eating without ever compromising on flavour or experience.