Line of made in Georgia food and drinks offers ‘therapy through food’
It all started with trail mix.
Naturopath Lupa Irie of Lupa's Kitchen is a student of natural remedies. After learning that sprouting seeds, nuts and grains would make their nutrients more accessible, she was inspired to sprout buckwheat and pumpkin seeds and mix them with coconut flakes, raisins and other ingredients to make a trail mix she called Morning Glory. Sprouted buckwheat seeds plus cinnamon, currants, dried apple slices, walnuts, chia seeds and goji berries became a mix she named Ray of Life.
She sold her mixes at local farmers markets and then at health food stores. Irie had been brewing kombucha since the 1990s, so she soon added that to her product mix, then sauerkraut.
“We use traditional food preparation techniques, just as our ancestors did,” Irie said. “These methods make the nutrients in our food more accessible.” Her motto, printed on each package, is “Therapy Through Food.”