Want to help local farmers? Shop small and eat Real Food

Have you ever asked yourself what goes into your meal? Surely, you’ve heard the saying “you are what you eat.” If you eat consciously, odds are you will be healthy. None other than the great Hippocrates of Kos, the ancient Greek physician who is largely regarded as the Father of Medicine, himself said: “Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” This quote, though thousands of years old, still rings as true, today.

Aside from the ingredients that go into the making of your food, have you ever wondered what goes into the making of those ingredients? Is your food the real deal or is it loaded with artificial, highly-processed elements? For your food to be truly healthy, your ingredients must be sourced and made well, too. The concept of “farm-to-table” doesn’t just apply to freshness, but to quality, as well. As advocates of mindful eating, local neighborhood grocer, Real Food PH is well-aware of these vital tenets. And it gets even better: the brand champions the cause of the small local producers, cooperatives, social enterprises, and farmers whose hard work goes into sustaining our food supply—and, in keeping it healthful and real. 

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Know your farmer

Real Food started as a passion project of four Metro Manila-based mommies, Nicole Olbes-Fandiño, Honey Almendral, Katrina Mañosa, and Bea Lhuillier. These women yearned for a brick-and-mortar shop where their favorite clean, healthy, organic, local food finds would be within easy access to them and their families. The concept has since evolved into a neighborhood retail store dedicated to providing Filipino consumers with responsibly grown and produced “real” food offerings that are free from harmful chemicals, preservatives, and additives. They have branches in BGC and Molito and will soon welcome a third branch in Rockwell. Moreover, the company supports smaller local suppliers, helping them further develop their products; specifically, the quality of ingredients, production standards, and packaging. And it all begins with getting to know the primary source of food—your farmer.

“The service we provide is that we have taken the time to ‘know your farmer’—to know where all this food comes from. Everything we carry is a healthier alternative to mainstream supermarket items; so, either made with cleaner ingredients, grown/produced more responsibly, products made without chemical preservatives or colorants, products made with healthier sweeteners, gluten free alternatives, dairy free, vegan, keto… we don’t carry anything we wouldn’t serve our own families,” Real Food’s owners point out.

Additionally, the brand offers eco-friendly incentives wherever possible.  “We have bulk bins so customers can purchase items without unnecessary packaging, we give deposits for glass bottles returned, we reward customers for bringing their own eco and produce bags, we carry environmentally-friendlier options, like toxic chemical free home cleaning materials, reusable bags, and zip bags,” the owners note.

Keep it real

In a nutshell, Real Food helps you keep it real when it comes to the food you consume and the local businesses you support. By patronizing the brand, you are not only committing to your own health, you are also making a stand to support local businesses—and this is something that BDO and American Express can certainly get behind now, more than ever. To motivate shoppers to do their part and stimulate local enterprises, BDO and American Express brings the global “Shop Small” initiative in the Philippines, a movement which has seen success in the United States, Singapore, Australia, the UK, India and Japan. Now, you can do your part to help boost the economy (and reap your own health benefits), all while enjoying rewards for it, too.

Shop Small

The Shop Small movement encourages shoppers to support and buy from local and homegrown businesses like Real Food. If you are an American Express Cardmember, you can enjoy 5x Rewards for purchases made at participating Shop Small merchants until June 30, 2021.

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“Together with BDO, we are bringing Shop Small to the Philippines to lend our support to local businesses. They are such an important part of our lives, and they have been particularly affected by the pandemic,” shares Sanjiv Malhotra, VP and GM of Global Network Services, South East Asia and South Pacific, American Express. “We want to play our part to support them and we hope our Shop Small movement encourages everyone to support their local businesses,” he adds.

Be a link in the supply chain

It’s a win-win, all around: make your purchase at Real Food, eat well, do your part in boosting the other local businesses that Real Food works with, and earn more rewards with your BDO-issued American Express Cards. Now there’s an offer that’s really too good to pass up. Strengthen the supply chain— browse Real Food’s selection and Shop Small, today. For more information, visit americanexpress.com.ph.

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Article and Photo originally posted by Inquirer last June 22, 2021, 7:00am.

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