Kindred Kitchens | Introducing GRAIN Founders Shira and Janna
Take a look inside your pantry. Where did your grains come from and how old are they? You may have pulled your lentils out of the bulk bin last week, but are they fresh? And how would you know? Seriously, think about that for a moment.
These are the questions we should all ask about dry goods and luckily for us the women behind GRAIN are. We’re excited to collaborate with Janna and Shira, the Founders of GRAIN, a pioneering company that shares our mission to Keep Food Alive by providing you with fresh dry goods sourced in Canada direct from the farmer who grew them.
GRAIN is offering a FREE Abeego Variety Pack with a GRAIN Starter Bundle until Janaury 31st. Check out the details here.
Read on to learn more about GRAIN its founders:
Why does Grain exist?
GRAIN exists to promote and support Canadian grain and legume farmers and to bring much needed transparency and traceability to some of our most important food groups.
How do you stand to disrupt your industry?
The current industry profits immensely from keeping the source and quality of our dry goods a mystery. Large commodity firms buy and sell grains like any other resource and the result is that farmers are squeezed on price and consumers are left in the dark about where and how their food is grown. GRAIN stands to disrupt this by promising full transparency. Farmers are paid a fair price and consumers know exactly what they’re getting.
What are the benefits of your grain compared to what we'd find in the bulk bin?
Many bulk bins provide little or no information as to the origin of what they contain and, unless they are an expert, most consumers cannot tell the difference between low and high quality product. GRAIN promises to sell only grains and beans farmed in Canada, we sell only the highest quality that Canadian farmers can produce and we will tell you who it is that farmed it and where their farm is located in Canada.
Has starting Grain transformed your relationship to food? If so, how?
We wouldn’t say that starting GRAIN has transformed our relationship with food as much as it has our consumption in general. We both spend a lot more time thinking about the origin and quality of everything we buy, from clothing to kitchen ware and certainly food. Being mindful about the businesses we both support with everyday purchases is very empowering — and incredibly gratifying when you can contribute to positive change.
What's on the horizon for Grain?
It has been part of our plan since day one, but we are very close to launching our traceable, freshly milled flour program. We have a beautiful, stone flour mill and we’re just in the process of experimenting and testing so that we can offer our customers the same level of quality and sourcing standards in a milled product. We’re very excited!