Funny how life works, isn’t it? A simple family vacation can change everything.
Stephen and I met working together on my restaurant, Seed + Salt. It was a special place that we created, hoping to remind people of a few simple things that our grandparents knew very well. That common sense is good sense, that miracles were not genetically modified, and that good food is a wonder.
During that time, we traveled with our families to Ecuador. On our trip, we were captivated by the natural beauty all around us and introduced to so many surprising new plants and animals. Little did we know that this curiosity about a new place would change our lives.
One day, we were offered a tasty dish made with a tiny, white legume called chocho. It was tasty and filling and all over Ecuador people were eager to share it with us. They believed that their staple food deserved recognition outside of Ecuador and soon enough so did we. We began dreaming of ways to share this amazing bean with the rest of the world. Things moved faster than we could have imagined and we soon understood that this mighty little legume held incredible possibilities.
The name Five Suns Foods comes from the Aztec creation myth that describes the origins of the universe. The central idea of this story is that the present world is the Fifth Sun and most sacred. The previous four suns had been created and then destroyed by cataclysmic events. This story asked people to offer up nourishment in the form of gratitude and appreciation to the sun so that it would continue to sustain them and the planet.
Five Suns is a reminder of our responsibility to bring thankfulness and respect to everything we do. We are grateful for everyone making this company and this journey possible.
It is our joy to discover the most sustainable way to make chocho accessible to people in the United States by building processes that support our farmers and growers, and the Ecuadorian soil.
Mo Clancy, Founder & CCO | Stephen Goldmann, Founder & CEO
Five Suns Foods is a San Francisco-based company committed to sharing the world’s most delicious and healthful plant-based foods in a thoughtful and regenerative way. We are committed to supporting every link in the chain, from seeds to consumers, and we believe that every choice we make has massive ripples. It’s not just about consumer health, or helping the land, or creating a new way of doing things—it’s all encompassing. We are not here to preach or disrupt, we’re here to build things up in the right way.
Five Suns Foods is in the process of developing ecologically and socially sustainable, and scalable, processes for growing, harvesting and distributing chocho as an ingredient. We are committed to bettering the lives of the farmers and Ecuadorian communities with whom we work, while replenishing the land. We have an awesome team in Ecuador who work directly with farmers and co-ops to create systems that revive the land through healthy crop rotation, and elevate local economies. Currently, we are on the journey of working towards becoming a certified B Corporation. Join us
