While it goes without saying that women should be celebrated all the time, the month of March is National Women’s History Month. In other words, there are 31 glorious days and millions of ways to commemorate the accomplishments of some bad-ass, empowering women all around the world. In particular, women in the food industry have been absolutely slaying it, reclaiming the commonly and misogynistic connoted phrase “a woman’s place is in the kitchen.” For that, they rightfully deserve some recognition, especially during the month of March. Here are seven female run food brands you need to know about in order to celebrate this Women’s History Month.
1. Stacy’s Pita Chips
Stacy’s Pita Chips were originally started by a social worker and psychologist named Stacy Madison in 1997 who began selling her homemade chips at a stand in Boston. While the company was later acquired by Frito Lay, the brand still warrants some recognition—not only because it was established by a female. Stacy’s brand launched limited edition chip bags specifically for Women’s History Month, which feature designs and messages about “celebrating, advancing, and supporting women,” made exclusively by females. More excitingly, though, for the month of March, Stacy’s promises to donate $25,000 to Step Up, a non-profit organization that propels young girls in underfunded communities to fulfill their full potential. Fight for females by buying these chips here.
2. GoMacro Bars
While GoMacro bars may seem like any other ordinary protein bars based on their exterior, the company’s founding actually has an inspiring story behind it. The brand was started by mother and daughter duo Amelia and Jola Kirchoff after Amelia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. From this point on, she made the conscious decision to convert to a macrobiotic diet, eliminating all animal products and artificial and processed ingredients. During this time, she began experimenting with homemade desserts in her kitchen, eventually stumbling upon a bar concoction that the duo began selling in stores with the name GoMacro Bars. Today, Amelia remains active in the brand, while Jola heads the company as CEO. Celebrate feminism and this heroic mother-daughter story by buying these healthy bars here.
3. Late July Snacks
While pregnant with her first son in 2002, Nicole Bernard was in a desperate craving for healthy saltine crackers, and searched all over New York City, but couldn’t seem to find the product anywhere. From that moment on, her organic, GMO-free, yet amazingly delicious chip and cracker brand, Late July Snacks, was born. Now, over 15 years later, Late July Snacks has transformed into a multimillion dollar company, offering more than just your typical crunchy snack from sriracha fresca yellow corn chips, to bite-size cheddar cheese cracker, to her original product of healthy saltines. Not only does Late July pride itself on producing delicious organic snacks, it is also devoted to charitable work by donating 10% of its overall profits to organizations dedicated to bettering the environment. Host a Women’s History Month celebration party featuring guacamole and Late July Chips found here.
4. Purely Elizabeth
Ten years ago, Elizabeth Stein, now the founder of the popular superfood, grain-free, granola, and bar company, was a no-name holistic nutrition counselor who was frustrated with the lack of healthy options to recommend to her clients. As a result, she took to the kitchen to create organic, protein-packed sweets and began marketing her snacks at her expo for the Westchester Triathalon. While her intentions of bringing these superfood desserts were simply and solely for the purpose of luring clients in, everyone fell in love with her healthy treats, and the idea for Purely Elizabeth was born. Since then, Purely Elizabeth has reached major milestones like selling their product nationally at well-known stores such as Target and Whole Foods and reaching 1 million sales in 2013. Honor Elizabeth Stein’s journey and Women’s History Month by purchasing her products here.
5. Baked by Melissa
After being fired from her job as an assistant media planner in 2008, instead of going home and sulking or editing her resume to apply for future jobs, Melissa Ben-Ishay decided to make her favorite s’mores, tie-dye, and peanut butter cupcakes, a hobby that brought her joy. While in the process of baking, she thought back to her father’s somewhat cliché-seeming advice of doing anything you can put your mind to. Despite her doubts, she made a life-changing decision and followed his advice, transforming her hobby of baking mini cupcakes into the million-dollar, world recognized business, Baked by Melissa. Talk about a bad-ass lady! Make your Women’s History Month celebration sweeter with Melissa’s mini cupcakes here.
6. Yes Way Rosé
Erica Blumenthal and Nikki Huganir, two best friends living in New York, quickly realized that their shared near-obsession for sipping blush colored wine on summer nights was not unique to just the two of them. So, in 2013, they decided to launch their lifestyle and wine brand, Yes Way Rosé, as a result of their shared love of rosé and “the happiness, humor, and positivité that rosé wine inspires.” They have now grown their brand to make their own rosé products and a stylish line of products that aim to spread summery, blush colored, millennial craving, rosé vibes to all and have coalesced a following of other like-minded rosé enthusiasts along the way. Even though it’s not quite summer-time, drink Yes Way Rosé all day and all of March as a cheers to Women’s History Month.
7. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
In 2002, Jeni Britton Bauer made a major stride as a female in the food industry: she pioneered the concept of artisanal ice cream with the founding of her innovative ice cream brand, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. It all began with her unique background as an artist and a pastry chef with a side hobby and passion for scents and perfume. One day, she unprecedentedly decided to blend the essences of plants into ice cream. From this aha-moment, Jeni realized that ice cream was the perfect vehicle to carry the “magical relationship between scent and taste,” and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams was born. Fast forward 16 years later, Britton Bauer’s company sold 5.5 million scoops of ice cream in one year, currently employs 800 people, received $30 million in sales last year, and has released two cookbooks, one of which won a James Beard Award in 2011. For even more amazement, Jeni has pledged her company to assist with the nonprofit She Should Run, an organization on a mission to get 250,000 women to run for elected office by 2030. Check out this boss ass bitch and her ice cream here to commemorate Women’s History Month.
No matter how you decide to honor Women’s History Month this March, it’s inevitable that you will be hungry at some point throughout the 31 days of the month. So, an easy way to recognize an important holiday, while also feeding yourself, is to buy and devour food products from one or all of these bad-ass female foodies. Your stomach and the matriarchy will thank you later.