Entrepreneur Takes Modern Foodies On A Culinary Adventure To Ancient Cultures Around The World

Nutritious Power Foods are a Hot New Category in the Organic Food Industry

Incan nutritional wisdom was an unexpected discovery for Zach Adelman when he created Navitas Naturals in 2003. The young health food enthusiast encountered the wonders of a nutritious root vegetable from the Peruvian highlands called Maca, which has been cherished by the indigenous Incan culture for thousands of years. After traveling to South America to experience the maca culture for himself, Adelman, began importing organic maca root powder as Navitas Naturals' original product. Now, five years after his adventure to Peru and more than 20 products later, Navitas Naturals (www.navitasnaturals.com) is one of the leading organic Power Foods companies in North America that is driving growth in this hot, emerging category.

Navitas is the Latin word for energy, and Adelman uses the term in the company name to demonstrate his desire to bring a wide array of energizing foods to North America to invigorate the modern 'Western' diet. "Navitas Naturals is making it easier than ever for people to gain the optimal whole food nutrition they need to energize themselves throughout the day," says Adelman, the 37 year-old President of Navitas Naturals. "Our functional foods provide more bio-available essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals than most supplements and chemical extracts," he adds. The company's Novato facility is a USDA certified organic manufacturing facility and the fast-growing company now employs 16 people, and they are gearing up for further expansion.

Founded upon socially and environmentally responsible business practices, Adelman has built a 'green' company that honors its workers here and abroad, focuses on limiting environmental impacts and gives back to the community. A key mission of Navitas Naturals is to spread sustainable organic agriculture and enhance economic opportunities for indigenous people in developing countries. "Our Power Foods come from the wisdom of ancient cultures that traditionally use plants for both culinary and medicinal purposes," says Adelman. "We source our ingredients directly from farmers that cultivate their crops sustainably and in accordance with fair trade practices."

Adelman began operating Navitas Naturals with Maca Power� as the sole product, and the vibrant sales it generated encouraged him to harness his love of world travel to search the planet for more functional foods that have long been used by traditional cultures for nutritional and medicinal purposes. In Peru, Adelman formed an alliance with an organic, fair-trade co-op and began to import raw cacao products. In China, he was amazed by the native people's reverence for healthy goji berries, and Navitas Naturals soon became one of the first non-Chinese companies to market them in the U.S.

The success that Navitas Naturals enjoyed sourcing goji and cacao inspired Adelman to find and import other previously obscure exotic power foods that are now bursting onto the health food scene due to their amazing nutrition profile and robust flavor, including: chia seeds (Chile), acai (Brazil), yacon (Peru), camu-camu (Brazil), lucuma (Peru), mesquite (Peru), mulberries (Turkey), goldenberries (Columbia), flax seed (Canada) and hemp (Canada). In all, the Navitas Naturals line now includes 24 products, which are widely available at hundreds of stores throughout the U.S. and Canada including Whole Foods Markets, and on many websites including www.amazon.com. Navitas Naturals is also busy selling their products in bulk as ingredients to other food and supplement companies.

Navitas Naturals' Modern Chef Recipes Make it Easy to Enjoy Ancient Power Foods

There is a great deal of culinary curiosity and fun associate