Let us introduce you to Wild and Alive, the latest raw-vegan-organic chocolate line to hit the States! Our chocolates are handmade in small batches and are certified organic. The ingredients are not only recognizable, but healthful too! Unroasted (aka raw) cacao, evaporated coconut blossom nectar, and a smidgen of sea salt are stone-ground into silky smooth dark chocolate and then combined with 6
sumptuously rich fillings. Our cashews, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts are activated through soaking and drying, before being processed with love, care and heavy duty equipment into extra nutritious fillings that are also fiendishly delectable. This is the most delicious chocolate we have tasted and are proud to now be able to offer them to you in 3 distinct sizes (large 60g/2oz bar, medium 39g/1.4oz bar & small 6g/0.2oz domelets) and 7 scrumptious flavors: Mint the Mermaid, Oranges Poranges, Wally Van Coco, Almond Buddah, Choxy Hazelton, GinCinergy & Cacao Kapow (100% cacao, only available in domelets). We are the Whiting family: Judith, David, Mia & Jamie. Vegetarian since 1990 and vegan since the late 90s, David's first significant time of living raw was a blistery Maine winter in '99 and, contrary to dire predictions, never felt better or warmer! He has been researching alternative health modalities and healthy lifestyles since the early 90s, which culminated in attaining a Bachelor's of Naturopathy, along with diplomas in Nutrition & Herbalism, from the top Natural Therapies College in New Zealand. New Zealand is also where David met his lovely wife Judith (pronounced 'Youdit'), who was on a working holiday from Germany. Vegetarian since age 13, she soon became a vegan and, ensnared by David's phenomenal raw lemon pudding, started experimenting with raw food dishes. That's when David hung up his figurative kitchen mitts, intimidated by the dash and dare of the newbie. Having been given free reign of the kitchen since she was 3 (well, more or less; there was definitely some easing into the knife work), Judith managed to fill the void left by the absence of bread, pasta and Streuselkuchen with raw scrumptiosity. It really was only a matter of time before she would turn to making chocolates...
In the meantime, we ping-ponged between continents, worked in health food stores, birthed and parented, panned for gold, went on tour with David's band and other some such. We also worked as long-haul truckers in the lower 48. After joking that he'd turn us on to junk food within a week, our obese and severely ill on-the-road instructor surprisingly joined the raw food bandwagon, and earned a pile of respect with his tenacity and determination. He also lost over 200lbs and regained oodles of health. Nowadays, he's well-known in the raw food world as Dave Conrardy, or The Raw Food Trucker. In 2013, our now 4-headed family and Dave teamed up again for a 3 1/2 months, 100 city U.S. T'was an exciting cross country experience, meeting a throng of marvelous people (you know who you are!) and eating lots of droolworthy raw-vegan-organic food! After a stint in the UK, where David managed Edinburgh's oldest health food store, we settled in the US with the intention of putting down some roots, planting our own food forest and going into business for ourselves while contributing to our communities' well-being and chocolate enjoyment. And so we did, and here you are. If you get as much sublime pleasure out of our bars as we do, than we'll consider ourselves content. You might be glad to know that neither Mia nor Jamie are actually slaving in our chocolate kitchen to fix your chocolate cravings. To their chagrin, they've been confined to helping, as much as they feel inspired to, in product development, spectator-ship and some box assemblage. This they do with fervor and flair. For example, Mint the Mermaid is actually named after a character Mia invented and has written/illustrated a book series about.
