Back to the Roots

Have you ever been in the process of making the perfect pasta dish when then the recipe calls for fresh cherry tomatoes, an ingredient you do not typically have on hand? Or maybe you decided to whip up your own take on Chipotle’s rice, only to remember that you don’t have access to cilantro?  Then when you finally go to buy some incredibly expensive herbs and organic vegetables, they spoil in the blink of an eye.  Well, Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora have the perfect solution for you: indoor gardening.

Velez and Nikhil are the CEOs of Back to the Roots, a company focused on helping their customers grow fresh ingredients right in their own kitchen.  The two met while studying at University of California, Berkeley.  Unbeknownst to them at the time, they were both in the same business ethics lecture.  One day, it was mentioned in class that mushrooms could be grown from used coffee grounds.  This inspired the two students, who then reached out to the professor and soon were introduced to each other.  From there, Velez and Arora began to work together to create a product that would be healthy, convenient, and environmentally sustainable. 

Their first project was their Organic Mushroom Farm which grew oyster mushrooms in recycled coffee grounds collected from local coffee shops.  Since the company’s launch in 2009, their collections have expanded to Self-Watering Planters for cherry tomatoes and chili peppers; Garden-In-A-Can for growing basil, cilantro, dill, mint, and sage; and Garden-In-A-Jar for basil, cilantro, and mint.  Of course, all of these plants are organic. By far, the most interesting product they have created is the Water Garden.  The Water Garden is an aquaponics fish tank that both is self-cleaning and self-fertilizing. However, Back to the Roots’ most recent project has been organic cereal.  As of 2017, they were able to replace Kashi and Kellogg’s in supplying cereal to New York City public schools.  The choice to do so was in response to a student taste test as well as the nutritional value of the cereal.

Ultimately, Velez and Arora are motivated by their goal to “Undo Food.”  The co-CEOs firmly believe that food should come from a reliable and wholesome source—and not from a factory or lab.  Their “Undo Food” movement is based on the ability to trust where food is coming from.  The creation of an easy to grow, indoor garden makes fresh herbs and vegetables available to everyone.  Velez and Arora believe that the ability to grown one’s own food is the best way to develop a healthy relationship with food and with the environment.

Sources:

www.backtotheroots.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Roots,_Inc.