origins with integrity
We believe that knowing where and who our nourishment comes from is part of being in right relationship with the Earth.
AWANIMA works to restore a direct, living bridge between the people who grow food and the people who eat it. Our aim is to lead by example with radical transparency to create more honesty and integrity in the food world.
Letβs Talk About Sourcing
Weβre witnessing the greatest poisoning of soils, food sources and bodies in human history, and now is the time to counter-act.
AWANIMA works to create new food systems that lean on the intelligence and generosity of Mother Earth, proving you can grow abundant food in natural ways that feed all of life. The way it was originally designed!
the industry is broken
The way most cacao β and other global foods β are grown isn't working.
Conventional cacao is one of the most destructive food industries on the planet. Forests are clear-cut to plant monocultures. Farmers are paid poverty wages for grueling work. Chemical pesticides contaminate the soil and the crop. Child labor is widespread, especially across West Africa.
Many consumers donβt know this β and thatβs because most brands can't even tell you where their cacao actually comes from.
The industry runs on middlemen β in Guatemala they're called coyotes β who buy in cacao seeds in bulk for the cheapest price, with no regard for quality, ethics, or the land.
Monoculture cacao is also extremely vulnerable. With no biodiversity to support these systems, a single drought can devastate an entire harvest β which is exactly what's been driving global cacao prices up in recent years.
how we do it differently
We source our food from family-run food forests to protect both soil health and a living wage for communities.
AWANIMA products are traceable to the forests and the families who grew it. We know the farmers by name. Weβve walked their lands. Weβve seen how these families are the best stewards of biodiversity, because theyβve been in dialogue with these lands for generations and directly rely on a thriving ecosystem for survival.
Sourcing from these families ensures a healthy future for the bioregion and a high-quality end product for our customers.
where we source from
Currently, all our products are sourced from one project: Tuqtuquilal.
Tuqtuquilal is a regenerative center and Q'eqchi farmers cooperative in LanquΓn, Guatemala. This project is stewarded by AWANIMA's founder which ensures we get only the highest-quality foods, direct-traded in relationship with integrity.
109
8
Families in Farmers Cooperative
Full-time Local Staff
55
Women Employed to Toast and Peel Cacao
Regular regenerative agriculture and health education workshops
All cacao inspected for quality at purchase and fermented, sun-dried, fire-toasted and hand-peeled
our sourcing decisions support three main pillars
PROTECT Biodiversity
Biodiverse ecosystems β where many species live and grow together β are more productive, more resilient, and more vital than any monoculture. The forests we source from are not farms in the conventional sense. They are family-run food forests, and we work personally with the farmers to help keep them that way.
plant agro-forests
Agroforestry mimics the structure of wild forests, layering trees, fruits, herbs, and ground covers so that each supports the others. The result is a self-sustaining system that restores soil, attracts wildlife, and produces food and medicine while regenerating the land. This is the opposite of extraction. This is how food was always meant to be grown, and we want to support the proliferation of this style of farming.
RESPECT Original Caretakers
Indigenous communities living on their ancestral lands carry generations of wisdom about how those lands thrive. They are the most effective stewards of biodiversity on Earth β because they are part of it. Historically this work has been grossly undervalued and underpaid. We believe that changes by paying fairly, building long-term relationships, and following their lead.
Our Promise
intimacy
Closeness that cannot be manufactured at scale. We are proud to know every family by name and want to keep it that way. Real relationships require proximity and long-term investment. We move at the speed of trust.
Reciprocity
We value the process as much as the end product. Value most flow in both directions, from the beginning. We take only as much as we give.
Transparency
We are unafraid to name what's broken and also share what's beautiful. You deserve to know exactly how your food is made and we invite you to experience the origin and process yourself.
your purchase makes a ripple of impact
AWANIMA invites you to move beyond consumerism into conscious participation in positive change.
When you buy an AWANIMA product, the edible intelligence, human stories, and biocultural relationship embedded in every ingredient travel toward you, and direct economic support flows back to the forest and the families. This is not a transaction, itβs reciprocal nourishment.
join us in co-creating an economy that nurtures life
Vote for the world you want with your dollar. Together, we are creating an economic ecosystem that is life-giving. We hope this can be inspiration for other companies to join us in redesigning our systems to be fair and abundant for all.
looking aheadweβre just getting started.
Our long-term vision is to help establish more community-led agroforestry systems across Guatemala and beyond β turning cacao into a living symbol of reforestation and renewal.
We'll soon be expanding our sources to include other vetted farmers cooperatives, so we can bring more forest medicine to the world. If you work with a cooperative and want to be considered, we'd love to hear from you.
