Asanté, a plant-based food company, has announced today that they are partnering with Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) foodbank to provide 500 4-meal packages of their plant-based Mexican products to food insecure residents of Southern California.
Asanté is donating four of its most popular products to the foodbank, which, through its facility north of Los Angeles, distributes food to families with children struggling to make ends meet, low-income seniors and people who are homeless who sometimes rely on foraging to survive. In 2020 alone MEND distributed more than 2.5 million pounds of food.
This donation is especially timely as we enter September which is Hunger Action Month around the world. The Hispanic community in the United States has been especially hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic as a staggering 40% of the Latino population in Los Angeles suffers from food insecurity.
Asanté Co-founder and CEO Iván Jiménez explains the genesis of the donation by saying, “As a Mexican plant-based company just entering the U.S. market, we were astonished at how the Latino community in Greater Los Angeles is suffering from a lack of access to healthy nutritious foods and we knew we had to do something for these families.”
The 100% plant-based company recently debuted four products—all made from authentic Mexican recipes—in the U.S. after a successful launch in its home country of Mexico. Those products include plant-based versions of traditional Mexican fare such as Barbacoa, Cochinita Pibil, Pastor, and Ceviche. The food comes in shelf-stable packs and each pack provides four hearty meals with 48 grams of protein, zero cholesterol as well as being preservative and soy free. The products are currently sold direct-to-consumers across the country and will soon be featured on grocery shelves, in restaurants and even on taco trucks in Southern California.
Lori Amos, Asanté’s CMO, states, “Asanté is a start-up just entering the U.S. market but we are calling on all plant-based brands to follow our lead and give back to their community during Hunger Action Month. This is not just about feeding those in need but also about providing them with nutritious meals that combat issues such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, which are especially prevalent in the Hispanic community.”
