Hi my name is Janay Jones, founder of Rooted Delights. We are a local vegan cheese company based out of Richmond, VA. Just to give some back story on my journey, I went vegan in 2016 due to health reasons. Before transitioning to a plant based diet, I always had low energy and felt groggy. I would break out constantly and couldn't seem to keep the weight off, even with me being active in the gym. I challenged myself to a 14 day, no meat or dairy challenge and after the 2 weeks, I felt amazing! My thoughts and dreams were more vivid, my skin cleared up, and I lost 7 pounds. I felt so liberated from my traditional diet and decided to make this a lifestyle change.
Throughout my experience, I realized how much our diet affects our mental, physical, and spiritual connection to self and I wanted others to experience this feeling that I discovered. That is when Rooted Delights was created. We started with a food truck but quickly realized the need for more dairy free cheese alternatives in our communities. After research, I found out that 30 million to 50 million adults are lactose intolerant, mostly people of color. More specifically, up to 75% of African Americans are lactose intolerant. These statistics inspired me to create something delicious, familiar, and healthier than what we have been conditioned to eat.
Fast forward to 2020, we have been actively operating for a little over a year now and have two main cheez wheels: ‘cheddah’ and ‘mozzah’ cheez --similar to cheddar and mozzarella. The first question everyone always asked, does it melt? The answer is yes!! Our cheese can melt, shred, and slice. What makes Rooted Delights stand out from the rest is how our wheels are made from oat milk and contains no dairy, soy, gluten, or added tree nuts.
If you are in the Richmond, VA or New York City area, you can find our cheese in local grocery stores or you can purchase it on our website directly. We can also be found on social media under Rooted Delights. We post recipes, future events, giveaways, and other dope local brands! We have recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in order to raise more funds and scale this business to the next level. Please share and donate if you can :-) In addition to producing cheez wheels, we are passionate about our community and provide community education about veganism and health in addition to producing cheese. With Rooted Delights, we are looking to break through generational eating habits, so we can continue to live longer and healthier lives. We hope you follow our journey and Get Rooted. Much love all 2020!
SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooteddelights/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realrooteddelights
Indiegogo campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rooted-delights-vegan-cheez
