A Chance at a Healthy Start!

As parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, we care deeply about the well-being of our children. One of these most concerning aspects of their well-being evolves around the healthcare field. And with white supremacy along with other oppressive systems, it can be hard to put trust into these medical fields. And with the history of the relationship between black bodies and the health industry (i.e. Tuskegee Syphilis Study, sterilization of black women), these emotions are beyond justified. So when discussing African Diaspora Foodways, it is important to analyze how parents can take a leading role in the development of their child’s, that is, brain development (i.e. iodine and zinc), anatomical development (i.e. lentil and yogurt), and habitual development in their first 1,000 days of life and onward.

For instance, Abby Fisher successfully beat the odds of the infant mortality rate and raised her eleven children on the “Pap for Infant Diet”, which consisted of flour, boiled milk, sugar, and added cinnamon [when the children had diarrhea]. She also had a “Blackberry Syrup Recipe” for dysentery, a berry fruit Little Cocoa Bean also makes use of in our “Blackberry and Hemp Seed Overnight Oats Recipe”.

The recipes of our ancestors are proof that when it comes to our children, we know best when equipped with the right tools and education; therefore, as our Nutritional Therapist, Jay Vilar, states, we want to help parents build a fruitful relationship with science and health practitioners to set the best possible stage of health for our future generations.

With the strained relationship between black bodies and the healthcare industry, that doesn’t mean our mission ends. Little Cocoa Bean Co., in the words of Founder & CEO, Tracy Skelly, aims to increase children’s consumption of healthy and diverse foods to function as a social determinant of health.