About Us

The success of DariKay stems from Yehiel Kaplan's culinary idealism – he flatly refuses to compromise on quality. Before becoming a chef 25 years ago, he worked as a kibbutz farmer in Israel. "We were taking food fresh from the earth and straight to the table. It was amazing," Yehiel says. "So I know just how good natural ingredients can be."

That formative experience continues to shape his kitchen philosophy. Yehiel is a passionate believer in supporting local farmers and insists on using only the freshest vegetables, herbs and spices. "It's the products that inspire me," he explains.

This obsession with natural ingredients means that DariKay's products are gluten-free and contain no animal fat, no preservatives and no artificial colours or flavours. Every single ingredient in Yehiel's recipes has to meet sky-high standards. For example, he scoured Australia sampling countless varieties of chickpea before eventually discovering some from the Ord River in Western Australia that he deemed suitable for his hummous. "They're very soft with a nutty flavour and don't have a grainy texture," Yehiel says.

Aided and abetted by his wife Dari – the name DariKay is an amalgamation of "Dari" and "Kaplan" - this single-minded commitment to the pursuit of yumminess delivers extraordinary results. DariKay's gourmet range of pestos, dips, soups, curries and dukkah reflect the couple's passion for perfection. Yehiel excels at giving old favourites an innovative tweak that catapults them to another dimension. Crème Fraiche Hummus (a world first!), Chilli Pesto and Moroccan Minestrone Soup are just a few of DariKay's lip-smacking inventions that have won glowing reviews from Good Living and Sunday Magazine and scooped a haul of awards along the way. Yehiel admits there's a certain formula behind DariKay's success. But you don't have to be a rocket-scientist to understand it. "Quality ingredients plus a love for cooking equals top recipes and products," says Yehiel, before rushing back to the kitchen to fine-tune his latest culinary revelation.