How I Got Here:
After facing multiple overlapping family health disasters in early 2021, I set out to find a better way to integrate healthy, healing foods into the meals we eat. I grew up with Ayurveda and learned from my mother and grandmother that the first stop when illness strikes isn’t the drug store - it's the spice drawer. When I had my first child in 2013, I went back to deploying the power of the pantry and making plant-based medicine at home.
I had a great multi-decade career spanning tech, media, investing, and government. Even during that time, functional medicine was something that called me. And, perhaps for the first time since childhood, I decided to listen.
As I began formally studying plant medicine to deepen my understanding of the science behind where our medicine originally came from, I understood how the food we eat has an outsized impact on our ability to fend off chronic disease. In short, we are better off getting our vitamins from vegetables and fruits of many colors than taking them in pill form. I began doing more research on the fact that our soil has fewer nutrients now than it ever has, and that the food grown in this soil is also less nutritive. I came to understand how our entire food and health system was broken. And no matter how well we eat, we are still not getting enough of what we need.
I learned that most Americans are walking around with a nutrient deficiency. And there is a direct link to chronic illness. And, being the problem-solver and movement-builder that I am at my core, I was determined to fix this at scale. I set out to solve this problem by starting with the first nutrient-dense and lower-in-sodium salt and pepper. I’ve added ancient Ayurvedic formulations known to help the body and mind adapt to inflammation and stress, as well as 21 vitamins and minerals to eat with your food - the way they were always meant to be absorbed. I started with salt and pepper because they unite the American palate and my aim is to bring you a little bit extra (specifically, 10% of your recommended daily intake of key nutrients), without sacrificing flavor and without changing our daily habits around cooking and seasoning.
No woman is an island. I cannot change the world alone. We need our passionate customers, like you, to drive the movement towards better eating forward. And I’ve assembled an all-star team of advisors and talented humans to power our work and bring you the smartest, healthiest foods.
Yours in Health,
Raina Kumra Gardiner, CEO & Founder
Our Mission. Our Passion. Your Pantry.
Our mission is to bring function to your pantry, and help you close the nutrient gaps in your and your family’s diet. This isn’t something that I want to do. It’s something that I have to do. We need more people making healthier foods, and we can’t rely on big food and big pharma to keep us healthy. That’s not their business model.
High Quality Ingredients Ethically Sourced
Because your health is of the utmost importance to us, so is where we source our ingredients, which are always non-GMO, Vegan, and Gluten-free. Our vitamins are sourced from raw organic vegetables.
We work with the cleanest sources of raw ingredients we can find and regularly test our product to keep it at the highest standards and toxin-free. We are continually improving our supply chain to optimize for both equitable trade practices and regenerative farming techniques. We aim to be 100% organic in the near future. Through the Desai Foundation, we’ll be donating a percent of profits to small holder farmers in South Asia where many of our ingredients are sourced.
