Two Degrees of separation…
Day 1: Find these bars online while searching gluten-free food and recipes online. Research and become inspired by their mission, ingredients and staff that includes a Harvard graduate, former Goldman-Sachs employee, U.S. Senate staff member, a former Clif bar executive and the creative chef and product development manager from Odwalla…pretty impressive task force.
Day 2: Find these bars on the discount shelf in the way back of our local organic grocery. They are not for sale in the aisle of bars for normal retail price. How and why are they selling for a fraction of the price in a dark corner next to an “employees only” door and does this still provide a meal for a child in need? Is 75 cents the actual cost of the bar? They retail for $19.95 for a box of 9 bars…$2.22 each.
I bought the discount cache of these bars to eat as a convenient post bike commute nosh while showering in the gym before work. My job is directly linked to child nutrition. I cook and serve the meals and snacks for about 200 children, infant to five years of age…five days a week.
Looking into what the normal purchase of these Two Degrees bars provides for a hungry child, I found the company Vital Nutrition. 2D has linked up with VN which sets up small scale worldwide manufacturing sites that create jobs and use regionally and locally grown crops in each different location to manufacture the nutrition packs distributed to malnourished children in specific areas around the world.
Vital Nutrition Ready-to-Use Packs are designed as therapeutic food treatments for moderate to severe malnutrition. There are two types: Milk powder/Peanut and Chickpea/Sesame. They are good for 12 months, do not need refrigeration and can be eaten straight from the package.
VN has locations in Ireland, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi and Zambia. They do not publicly list the cost of their RUTF packs.
I want to find out.
(Source: twodegreesfood.com)
