vegoftheweek

Awhile back, I told you how I was rooting for my favorite protein bar to cross the finish line. But Amelia Kirchoff (right) and her daughter Jolanta Sonkin (left) have already won several races. Amelia beat cancer and both women have a successful macrobiotic food business that started in Amelia’s kitchen. And amazingly, the only real “horror” story, so far, is a burned cookie here and there.

On How Go Macro Got Started:
Amelia: It was really the fact that I got breast cancer. At the time, I was very concerned and Jola had an aunt that had lymphoma and it had been diagnosed as a terminal cancer. And she had been told she only had six months to live. She went on a macrobiotic diet and has been doing great. And it’s been at least 10 years now. So that was a great incentive for me. And I went on a macrobiotic diet at the time as well and later when I got better I started to make desserts-macrobiotic desserts because really there was nothing available.
Jola: My mom wasn’t just making them to start a business. It was my husband who suggested that, “These are so good, you guys should sell them.” It was so random. Who would have thought we’d be here with this company. I said, “Mom will you make a batch of these. I’m going to try to sell them to my local health food store. She made me a batch and we wrapped them in Saran Wrap. We printed up these labels-I just typed up labels and pasted them on the back and went to the local health food store in Downtown Chicago.

On The Challenges Of A Self Owned Business:
Amelia: I can’t think of any real horror stories, other than of course we have thrown out batches. And still do occasionally. Not every batch turns out well. I think Whole Foods told us our first packaging looked washed out. So that was a bit of a disappointment (laughs). But we got new packaging.
Jola: And there was the one issue of gluten-free (testing) and it forced us to invest in gluten-free testing products.
Amelia: We used one testing procedure and we had to change to a different one. We learn as we go along.
Jola: I think there’s been challenges along the way like any business…Everything that happens, really it’s been a positive thing for us because it’s forced us to improve.

What They’ve Eaten For The Week:
Amelia: Years ago, I always used to like Beef Stroganoff. And there was a recipe for something similar using tempeh and several different types of mushrooms. It was a vegan sour cream for the sauce. And some spices.
Jola: Seitan Pear Pie. But not a sweet pie. It was made with wild rice, dried cherries-the pears were on top. The seitan was mixed in with the wild rice and dried cherries. Some brown rice syrup-those are the main ingredients.

Learn what Amelia and Jolanta wouldn’t mind eating over and over again after the break… (more…)