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Store and Department News | Wheatsville Co-op
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The Latest News from Wheatsville

Grocery News

Our grocery shelves are packed with food you love. We know you love them because you are ones who have helped choose what goes on our shelves. Yes, we carry a wide selection of raw, gluten free, vegan, paleo friendly, and alternative items but we go to great effort to stock traditional favorites and pantry staples. We want this to be your one-stop grocery.

We work hard to offer great prices on high-quality products – look for Co+op Deal signs for items on sale and Owner Deal signs for special prices just for Owners. On a budget? Look for the purple Co+op Basics signs on products at rock bottom prices. Didn’t find what you needed? Make a request on our wishlist or ask us to place a special order for you. Your interaction determines what we buy - so speak up! We love to hear from you.

New Years Eve -  Black-eyed Peas

It is a long-standing Southern custom to eat black-eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day to bring fortune in the coming year. The black-eyed peas are sometimes said to represent coins and the leafy greens folding money. Two common theories on the origin of this tradition stem from the American Civil War. Some claim that Union soldiers left behind the peas and greens when pillaging the food supplies of their Confederate opponents, considering them food only fit for livestock, so Southerners considered themselves lucky to have these supplies. Another theory posits that black-eyed peas were eaten by African-Americans on January 1, 1863, the day that Lincoln declared that all enslaved people would be freed.

Black-eyed peas and greens are traditionally made using some kind of cured pork. Pigs represent prosperity in numerous cultures around the world, and during the winter months, cured meat would have been the only available option in the American South. The smoky flavor of such meats is a great complement to the earthy peas and slightly bitter greens, but if you want to keep your dish vegan, omit the meat and add a teaspoon of smoked paprika or a drop or two of liquid smoke to your dish!

The WHEATSVILLE DELI will be cooking up several dishes featuring these traditional ingredients to help you get your good luck on for 2023:

LUCKY BLACK-EYED PEA SOUP—tender peas and a whole array of fresh vegetables and herbs simmered in a tasty tomato-based broth. This soup goes wonderfully with our own Bakehouse-made cornbread (in spicy Southwestern or vegan varieties), yet another traditional New Year’s dish in the South.

TEXAS CAVIAR—a black-eyed pea salad with crisp colorful peppers and a tangy vinaigrette dressing.

PLAIN JANE BLACK-EYED PEAS--simply cooked and recipe-ready! Try them in this super-easy and very adaptable recipe for your first meal of the new year:

Southern Black-eyed Peas and Greens

YIELDS 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
2   tablespoons olive oil or bacon fat
1   yellow onion, finely diced
4   cloves garlic, minced
1   jalapeno, finely diced
2   bunches collard greens, cut into one inch pieces
1   cup diced ham cooked and chopped)
2   cups water (or chicken or vegetable stock)
2   cups cooked black-eyed peas (or 2 cans,  
     drained and rinsed)
½  teaspoon salt
½  teaspoon black pepper
2   tablespoons cider vinegar

PREPARATION
Heat olive oil or bacon fat in a large pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno and saute until garlic is fragrant, just a minute or two. (If you are using smoked paprika to replace the meat, add it here!). Add greens to pot, stir well, and cover pot for about 5 minutes. The greens will wilt quite a bit. Add ham, water or stock, peas, salt, and pepper, stir well, and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes. Stir in vinegar and taste for seasoning. If you use a ham hock, remove it, pull the meat from the bone with a fork and stir it into the pot. Enjoy!

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Vendor of the Month: Funky Mello

Meet Delisa and Zach, the husband and wife creators of Funky Mello! When they realized their food sensitivities were taking their joy away from food, they were determined to make dessert fun again. Just six months into dating, they started their marshmallow treat business and in 2021, introduced the WORLD'S FIRST plant-based, refrigerated marshmallow creme!

Funky Mello marshmallow cremes are a cleaner, tastier, and more versatile marshmallow for s'mores, fruit, coffee, and more! Their cremes are plant-based, vegan, gluten-free, and soy-free so anyone can enjoy this light, sweet treat.

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Vendor of the Month: Fara Coffee

​ABOUT THEIR COFFEE

Their coffee is exported from Nicaragua to Austin, Texas where they roast each batch with special attention. In order to achieve top quality and consistency, the coffee beans are carefully processed to preserve their full body, bright acidity, and exceptional aroma. Fara Coffee proudly oversee each step of production, from planting to roasting and packaging. Fara Coffee's priority is to ensure their customers will taste quality and care in every cup.

COMPANY

Fara Coffee produces and exports shade-grown, hand picked gourmet coffee. We have been growing 100% SHG Arabica coffee beans on our family-owned farms in the mountainous rainforest of Matagalpa, Nicaragua for five generations.

MISSION

In 2004, Fara Coffee raised the bar for itself — with a proactive objective to have the most environmentally sensitive and socially responsible coffee fincas in all of Nicaragua. Through the Fara Foundation, we give 100% of our proceeds back to the people of Nicaragua in 4 main ways: healthcare, food assistance, education and eldercare. Furthermore, we prioritized Rainforest Alliance certification to reinforce our aim to conserve ecosystems by protecting healthy soils, rivers and wildlife and promote dignified living conditions for farm workers and neighboring rural communities.

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Vendor of the Month: Bawi

FOUNDERS

Victor and Jordan are two friends who met during college in Austin, Texas. As a first generation Mexican immigrant, Victor wanted to bring authentic Mexican flavors and traditions to the USA. Jordan, growing up in Austin, was intertwined with Mexican-American culture and developed a passion for the food & beverage space. Together, they set out to make something they’d both be proud of and enjoy.

The two of them explored traditional Mexican drinks, experimented with different juice combinations, and accidentally exploded a carbonator or two in pursuit of a new twist on a culturally representative Mexican staple. The end result is Bawi. A sparkling agua fresca with the perfect blend of carbonation and traditional Mexican recipes that’s nostalgic for Latinos, and healthier, more delightful, and more flavorful for all.

AGUA FRESCA

What is agua fresca? Well, if you’re anything like our co-founder, Victor, who grew up loving agua fresca in Monterrey, Mexico, then you know it’s a classic Mexican beverage. If you didn’t grow up in Mexico and you’re hearing about agua fresca for the first time, prepare yourself for a tasty lesson in Mexican culture.


Traditionally, agua frescas are made with delicious fruit juices such as pineapple, lime, or passionfruit, but can also be floral with flor de jamaica (hibiscus), or even a blend of spices and strained rice water called horchata. When Victor grew up and left Monterrey, he wanted to sip on something that reminded him of home, but with a modern twist and less sugar than the Mexican drinks already popular in the USA.

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Local Vendor Q&A: Rooted Vegan Cuisine

Rooted Vegan Cuisine is still considered a new vendor for us but it is very likely you have already had a chance to meet co-owners Naomi and Mike Oyegoke. They have been enthusiastically serving up hot samples of their lasagna and mozzarella sticks on a regular basis in the stores; usually leading to a great conversation and almost always resulting in the shopper taking home one of their products. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with them and I am happy to be sharing their story here with you via an interview with Naomi.


What is your origin story? Who started the business and why?
The idea to start selling vegan food came to me about three years ago shortly after losing my father Gary. (Aka “G-Daddy” to his grandkids.) It was a rough time, but I would always laugh thinking about him calling my meals “rabbit food”. Needless to say, he wasn’t vegan. Haha! However, he was always pleasantly surprised at how tasty my vegan foods were and was so supportive of my decision to be vegan.

I started the business under the name Rooted Soul Food using the inheritance my father left us. I dedicated the business to him and his mother Jaunita, aka Wheatie. Two people that I knew would be so proud of what I was doing, no matter how well the business did. It was, and very much still is, a passion project.

Starting in October of 2019 you could find me around San Antonio serving hot food at pop-up events and even doing a weekly kitchen take-over at the famous La Botanica here in San Antonio. Things were moving quickly, my lines were getting longer, and I was selling out quicker at each event. Then Covid shut everything down. I remember my last weekly kitchen takeover well. It was March of 2020 and I created a special meal for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m ¼ Irish and was so excited to share dishes that I grew up making with my mother, that I later veganized, of course. Guinness stew, colcannon, and Irish soda bread all from scratch. It was delicious but the lasagna was still the reason my lines kept growing longer each week.

When Covid brough the world to a standstill I started getting lots of requests for meals through my DM’s. Most of these requests were for lasagna. I decided the best way to service my clients was to freeze the lasagnas, deliver them around town, and the customer could heat and serve them at home.

Meanwhile, we now have two toddlers’ out of daycare and at home. I’m staring at the freezer section at the grocery looking for easy to heat and serve, healthy vegan meals to serve my family. Honestly, the options were so disappointing. I knew that if I was looking for a higher quality, better tasting frozen options, others were too. That’s when it hit me, and I knew I wanted to be in the freezer section.

This idea also coincided with the loss of our previous business due to Covid related setbacks. Thus, allowing my husband, Mike, the time to come over and help me turn Rooted from a small pop-up, side hustle, into a legit frozen food manufacturing business. With him came a wealth of skills, knowledge, focus, and unmatched hustle. Most of his many contributions to our business are behind the scenes. Although, he is the artist behind all of our company’s photography and video. I know I’m a bit bias, but he’s pretty amazing both behind the lens and during postproduction. #biggestfan

Rooted Vegan Cuisine’s official launch was 1 year ago this month. So, Happy Anniversary to us! At the time of our launch, we were only offering our products through our website for local delivery. We quickly partnered with a couple local San Antonio shops and, over time, expanded out to freezer sections in Denton, Austin, and most recently Dallas. We are also now servicing restaurants that want to sell Rooted Vegan Cuisine on their menu.

The reception we have received from the community and our customers have been incredibly humbling. The support means so much for so many reasons. Losing our previous business due to Covid was scary. Rebranding Rooted and learning everything about frozen food manufacturing, from the beginning, during the one of the most stressful and almost unbelievable times in recent history, with two toddlers? I mean, come on.

Knowing that we are helping more people find restaurant quality vegan food in their freezer section makes me so happy. And in turn, their purchases and continued support is helping my family get through these crazy times. It’s also helping us build my passion project into a business I’m proud of.

What are your most popular products and why?
Lasagna gets most of the spotlight but honestly, our mozzarella sticks are right up there with lasagna in terms of popularity. In select markets we also sell broccoli cheese soup and spinach and cheese manicotti. Every customer will tell you a different one is “best”. We stopped manufacturing our collard green, sausage, & potato soup, 3-bean “beefy” chili, and white chicken chili over the summer but the requests for those items are now picking back up as the weather cools down. So, they have a chance of coming back soon if time allows.

What makes your products unique?
Our product is unique because of the hand crafted, high quality nature of the dishes. Our tagline is Restaurant Quality Frozen Foods because the recipes are complex and time consuming. The flavors are deep, developed and bold. The dishes are filled with tons of fresh produce and low-cost fillers are left out. We make all of our various cheese recipes from scratch, in house. While most vegan cheese recipes are filled with oil, ours are not.

What positive feedback have you heard from your customers?

“These meals taste so fresh and not like a typical frozen meal at all! I was most blown away by the gluten-free mozzarella sticks. They were better than I ever remember mozzarella sticks to be. They had a very gourmet flavor with gooey cheese and a crunchy outside. I love how non-greasy it was!”

“Their lasagna is out of this world! My husband is convinced they have an Italian grandma in the kitchen. I’m a soup fiend too, every single one of their soups is incredible. Comfort food, all of it.”


Where do you see your business headed in the next year and beyond?
We are working hard internally on learning all the ins-and-outs of high-level food manufacturing. We are implementing new protocols and procedures regularly to help us move closer to the highest levels of food safety certifications. The goal is for customers to be able to access our dishes in freezers near them, from coast-to-coast. So yeah, we have some long-term plans that are already in the works.

Short term, we are really looking forward to offering nationwide shipping. Even figuring that out is a challenge but we suspect we will be ready for this service just in time for the holidays. I’m also very anxious to bring old dishes back and introduce everyone to dishes I’ve never shared before. I’m confident one of my favorite parts of growing this business will be creating and sharing new dishes. That excitement goes way back to my childhood where my love language has always been to cook and serve people my meals.

Anything else we should know?
This business, what it represents and where I want to see it go, is about so much more than frozen food. I don’t want to build this business if it can’t be done in a way that aligns with my values around issues like veganism for the animals, environment, health, and the people. I want to make sure our products, brand, voice, and our overall presence is a safe space for all. Especially those that are part of historically marginalized communities.

We are trying to build this business on a solid foundation of ethical practices that only improves as we grow. I know this will be a never-ending process as capitalism, in general, makes every step forward challenging. I don’t want to own a company that puts profits over their employees. I don’t want a company that doesn’t think, or care about, our carbon footprint. I don’t want a company that doesn’t give back to the people that made us successful and helped us to grow. I don’t even want a company that doesn’t stand up, and speak out, when things need to be said and voices need to be amplified. I want a company that my dad, grandmother, and all my ancestors could have only imagined in their wildest dreams. 

I know we have a long challenging road ahead. And we are nowhere near as sustainable as I want us to be. We are not yet able to offer our employees the wages and benefits I want them to have. The prices of our foods are not as accessible as I want them to be. But I’m committed to working on improvements, in all areas, regularly. We have been told that you can’t be successful and profitable without ignoring some of the above issues. I refuse to believe that to be true. ❤

Thank you Wheatsville for inviting us into your store and community.

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Vendor of the Month: Native American Natural Foods

We are so excited about featuring Native American Natural Foods as our Vendor of the Month this November! Co-founders Karlene Hunter and Mark A. Tilsen imagine a world filled with healthy foods that add to the restoration and preservation of our lands and ecosystem -- a world without the pain of starvation or obesity. The world they imagine embraces the lifestyle that Native American people lived just over a century ago.

Karlene, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and her long-time business partner Mark, founded their business in 2006 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. To this day, the creation of their delicious, natural, and healthy Tanka buffalo-based food products is based on Native grounds. They offer Tanka Bars, Tanka Bites, Tanka Sticks and Tanka Warrior Bars all in a variety of flavors. Their Tanka product line and fund are focused on one of their key business values: Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit, described below:

“Buffalo "Tanka" is used in reference to delivering your best with all your heart, mind,  body and spirit. It is the choices that you make and the actions that you take to be who  you are. Whether you're Native, white, black, yellow or brown, it is your ability to  overcome, to extend a helping hand for those in need, to defeat racism, to protect our  Mother Earth, and to love all others on our planet.” 

For them, their goal of wellness doesn’t just stop at the meat products that they create, but they also have a Tanka Fund that is on a mission to bring Buffalo back to Indian Country. Tanka Fund provides funding directly to Native ranchers to establish new buffalo ranches or to support, expand, and sustain existing ranch operations. They look at wellness holistically and focus on regenerative agriculture and social justice in order to support Native American practices and Buffalo care-takers. 

By purchasing a delicious, minimally processed, and nutritious Tanka product, you are supporting a Minority and Native American-Owned business that gives back as a certified B-Corporation and through their non-profit. We are proud to carry their products and share them with our community. Come check them out in store today!

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Vendor of the Month: Tony’s Chocolonely

ABOUT THEIR CHOCOLATE: Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch confectionery company founded in 2005. With incredibly tasty chocolate, they lead by example to show the world that chocolate can be made differently. By following Tony’s Sourcing Principles for slave-free cocoa, it’s possible to make slave-free chocolate and be commercially successful.

The chocolate supply chain starts with millions of cocoa farmers and ends with billions of consumers. But what about the piece in the middle? This piece is dominated by a handful of chocolate giants (who we call big choco) that profit from keeping the purchase price of cocoa as low as possible. There’s nothing wrong with a profitable business, of course. After all, companies would go bust without it, that’s just common sense. What’s not so great, however, is when that profit comes at all costs. And in this case, profit comes at the cost of exploitation of farmers at the beginning of the supply chain.

Cocoa is grown in places all around the equator like Asia and South America, but more than a whopping 60% of the world's cocoa comes from two mid-sized countries in West Africa: Ghana and Ivory Coast. These two countries are also where the problems in the cocoa industry are at their worst. Most farmers there have only a small plot of land and earn just 78 cents a day from the crops they grow there. That amount isn’t just low by our standards, the living income is set at $2.16 per person, per day for Ghanains and for Ivorians it’s set at $2.49 per person per day. Farmers just aren’t paid enough, even with certification premiums.

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Local Vendor of the Month: Lick Honest Ice Cream

To Lick, "honest" simply means they use the purest ingredients they can find in their artisanal ice creams. What doesn’t go into their ice creams is just as important as what does. They never use artificial colors or flavors, high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, ever! They can trace every single ingredient they use to its source. Ice cream shouldn’t just taste good — they believe it should also be good.

Lick Honest Ice Cream takes great pride in witnessing their milk and cream as it journeys from the cow to your scoop. All of the milk and cream used to make their ice creams comes from family owned dairies in Texas and Wisconsin; and everything from the sauces, syrups, cookies, cakes and marshmallows is made by hand in their kitchen. They churn every batch and pack each pint by hand in their kitchen. They roll each waffle cone made from their homemade recipe in their shops every single day.  All in an effort to serve up the freshest, most honest ice creams possible. They are also committed to sustainability by using only compostable cups, spoons and napkins in their shops.

Anthony and Chad opened Lick Honest Ice Creams in the fall of 2011 because they wanted to offer “honest ice creams” to savvy palates in Austin. Both grew up in small rural communities, enjoying homemade ice cream: Anthony from Hallettsville in South Central Texas and Chad from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The two met in New York City in the winter of 2005 and immediately connected (small town minds in the big city). As the years passed and after many train rides to Lancaster, Anthony began to truly appreciate what Chad grew up with…local, small town ice cream shops that made seasonal flavors with locally sourced ingredients: fresh, unique and delicious! With each lick, Anthony wondered what kind of flavors he could craft from the ingredients he grew up eating in Texas. Chad never ate ice cream at a chain, and from 2005 on, Anthony didn’t either.

In New York, Anthony (who had actually moved to the city with hopes of being a writer for a food magazine) worked as a caterer and event planner, where he deepened his love of working with food. He became inspired by the menus and dishes he helped develop and began mentally storing this inspiration for future use.  Eventually, Chad's career took them away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan to the Midwest. There Anthony joined a local bakery and continued to dream of ways to include all of his favorite dishes and desserts into one thing.  As several years passed, the dream of honest ice creams began dancing in their heads. All the while, with each trip to visit Anthony’s family and friends, Chad was falling more and more in love with Austin and becoming inspired by its creative spirit and local flavors.  Finally, the right time came and the decision was made to sell their home and move to Austin.  Thus began the realization of a dream and the building of

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