Caribbean
Goodness,
crafted with care.
Chungums began at a kitchen table: two sisters, Rachel and Kezia, a tin of warm Kurma, and a longing for home. We never set out to reinvent it. We set out to introduce it properly: the Trinidadian snack we grew up on, made with the same care Britain gives its finest treats.
A small idea, kept small on purpose.
For us, Kurma was never just a snack. It was the tin that appeared at Christmas and Diwali, the taste of a grandmother's kitchen, the thing you offered the moment someone walked through the door. So Chungums began with a question we kept asking: where do you find Kurma here that tastes the way it should, golden, light, faintly spiced, made by someone who actually knows?
The answer, mostly, was nowhere. So in late 2021 we made the first batch ourselves, at a kitchen table at home. Friends asked for more. Their friends asked for some. For a good while that home kitchen was the whole company: small batches, made to order, sealed by hand. When we finally outgrew it, we moved into a commercial kitchen of our own in Gloucester. A bigger room, the same rules: small batches, fresh oil, real spice, no shortcuts.
We've grown carefully since. New flavours arrive only when they earn a place. Plant-based Kurma launched after eighteen months of testing, because we refused to compromise on crunch. Every tub is still hand-finished, still weighed, still sealed by someone who knows your name might be on the label.
That's the whole brand. A Caribbean tradition, introduced properly, and kept small enough to taste it.
Every tub carries three generations of a Trinidadian kitchen. Our job is simply to introduce it properly.Rachel & Kezia, founders
A traditional Trinidadian snack, light pastry sticks, fried golden and glazed in spiced sugar. Eaten at Diwali, weddings, and quiet afternoons.
The meaning of Kurma, and why we kept the name.
Kurma travelled with the indentured labourers who came from India to Trinidad in the 1800s, and over generations it became something distinctly Caribbean, lighter, crisper, perfumed with the warm spices of the islands. In Trinidadian homes, Kurma is a hospitality food: you offer it when someone walks in the door.
We could have rebranded. We could have called it "spiced pastry sticks" and made it easier to scan. But we didn't, because the name carries the story. Saying Kurma means saying where it came from, who made it, and what tradition it belongs to. We'd rather take a moment to explain.
So this is a brand built on a Trinidadian word, made in an English kitchen, served, we hope, at your table.
Four steps. Slow on purpose.
Every tub of Chungums is made and checked by the same team: ours. Here's what happens between flour and seal.
Mixed & rested
Flour, butter, warming spices and a careful pinch of salt, mixed to the same recipe every time and rested while the kitchen wakes up.
Rolled & cut
Each sheet is rolled to the same thickness, every time, then cut into the slender batons that give Kurma its signature crunch.
Golden fry
Cooked in small batches in clean oil at exactly the right temperature, until each stick lifts to a deep amber gold.
Glazed & sealed
Sugar-glazed (or savoury-spiced), cooled on linen, hand-weighed, and sealed in our cream tubs, ready to travel.
More than a snack: an introduction to a culture.
Chungums isn't only about Kurma. It's about introducing people to the richness, warmth and creativity of Caribbean food culture. Six commitments we won't move on. Ever.
Recyclable cream tubs, plant-based film.
Our packaging is made from materials that are recyclable, and we are continuing to improve sustainability across the range.
Spices traced to grower.
Our ingredients are chosen for quality and flavour, sourced with care from suppliers we trust.
Used oil to biofuel.
All used frying oil leaves our kitchen through a licensed waste contractor for responsible disposal. Nothing goes to drain.
2% to Caribbean food culture.
We are building a business that invests in Caribbean food culture in the UK, through our sourcing choices, community partnerships and long-term commitments.
Every flavour, plant-based too.
All seven Kurma flavours come in both Classic (made with butter) and Plant-Based (oat milk and plant butter in place of dairy). Same crunch, same warmth, same hand. Pick the one that fits the way you eat.
Real Living Wage, always.
We are committed to fair pay for everyone who works in our kitchen.
A few kind words from the trade.
We don't enter many. The ones we do, we choose for the panels who know what they're tasting.
Stay a while. There's more Kurma coming.
New flavours are tested for a year before they earn a tub. Our Chungums Club subscription is live, monthly and two-monthly options, 10 to 15 percent off every order. A cookbook is coming too, on no fixed schedule. If you've come this far, come the rest of the way with us.