Erewhon Organic facts for kids
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Formerly
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Erewhon Trading Co. |
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| Industry | Food |
| Fate | Brand discontinued in 2019, replaced by "Three Sisters Foods" |
| Successor | Three Sisters Foods |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Founders | Aveline Kushi Michio Kushi |
| Defunct | 2019 |
| Products | Breakfast cereals |
| Parent |
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| Subsidiaries | U.S. Mills |
Erewhon Organic (say "AIR-wahn") was a company that made organic cereals. It was a brand owned by Post Foods. Erewhon was famous for its organic cereals that were safe for people with allergies. These cereals were sold in health food stores all over North America.
Erewhon was also one of the first companies to sell macrobiotic and organic whole foods in the United States. In 2019, Post Foods stopped making Erewhon Organic cereals. They replaced the brand with "Three Sisters Foods," which sells similar organic cereals.
The name "Erewhon" comes from a book written in 1872 by Samuel Butler. The book was called Erewhon. "Erewhon" is the word "nowhere" spelled backwards (an anagram). In the story, Erewhon is a perfect place where people are in charge of their own health.
Contents
The Story of Erewhon
Starting with Macrobiotics
In the 1950s, a married couple named Aveline Kushi and Michio Kushi started bringing modern macrobiotics to the United States. Macrobiotics is a way of eating that focuses on whole, natural foods for good health.
The Kushis had studied with George Ohsawa, who started the modern macrobiotic movement. In the late 1960s, the Kushis began teaching groups in New York and Massachusetts. They talked about many things, like healthy eating and preventing sickness.
More and more people became interested in their ideas. So, they decided to open a store. They wanted to sell macrobiotic and whole foods products. Erewhon's first products were processed soy foods, like miso and shoyu.
Finding Better Foods
The Kushis soon realized that the United States did not have the high-quality foods they needed. Michio Kushi talked about this problem with an old friend from college. His friend knew someone in Japan who could help. This person was Akiyoshi Kazama, who started a company called Mitoku.
In 1967, an environmentalist and business person named Paul Hawken took over Erewhon. He changed the name to Erewhon Trading Co. and helped the business grow.
By the early 1970s, Erewhon started working with farmers to grow organic crops. By 1973, they had contracts with 57 farms in 35 states. Erewhon was also one of the first companies to create special "Quality Standards" for their natural products.
Challenges and Changes
By 1979, Erewhon was growing very fast, but it had money problems. The company expanded to sell 4,000 products to 2,000 customers by 1981. Because of these money troubles, many companies stopped sending products to Erewhon.
However, Akiyoshi Kazama from Mitoku kept sending orders because he believed in the Kushis. When Erewhon finally went out of business in 1981, Mitoku lost a lot of money.
After some difficult years, Erewhon made a comeback. In 1986, Erewhon bought U.S. Mills. U.S. Mills had been around since 1908. Their whole grain cereals and simple ways of making food fit well with Erewhon's ideas.
In 2009, a health food company called Attune Foods bought U.S. Mills. Attune Foods continued to focus on healthy digestion with pure ingredients. Then, in 2013, Post Foods bought Attune Foods.
Under Attune Foods, the Erewhon brand offered eight organic cereals. Six of these cereals were gluten-free.
See also
- Kashi
- Erewhon Market
- Cascadian Farms
- Nestle Fitness
- Special K
