Growing up, I think I had the same general ideas of food and health as everybody else. Ideas like "eat your fruits and vegetables, make sure you get enough protein, and eat carbohydrates but not too many." I knew what foods were best for me and which to eat sparingly. As much as I loved pasta and pecan pie, I knew it wasn't wise to eat them everyday.

When I was 10 years old, my mom taught me how to read and understand food labels to earn a Girl Scouts Badge. So I knew to look out for the basics: sugar or corn-syrup listed first on the ingredient list = not great. Saturated or trans-fats = nope. Lots of ingredients = hard to digest. And even though I knew all of this and was following these guidelines, I still wasn't feeling physically great. But food allergies and sensitivities apart from the common peanut allergy was beyond mine and my parents comprehension in the late 90s. I didn't even find out what gluten was until 9 years later while I was in college. 

Once I got to college, I started experimenting with my diet. I began experiencing significant positive results with a mostly plant-based and gluten-free diet. A lot of what I had experienced while growing up (headaches and digestive issues) became less frequent. I was really starting to feel my best!

While I love eating and cooking with whole foods, I am busy just like you and sometimes it's easier to go with the more convenient/quicker option. So I started paying more attention to the packaged foods I was buying. As an adult and with no Girl Scouts badge incentive, I found myself standing in the middle of the grocery aisle yet again inspecting health food labels and realizing there was a disconnect between what I deemed healthful and what the health food industry said qualified. Come to find out, foods that I thought were "healthy" or "good for me" actually had a lot of filler ingredients with little to no nutritional value, with gluten-free products being some of the biggest culprits. Sure, I want my gluten-free food to taste like their gluten-filled originals, but not if it means compromising my health and digestion!

I didn't want to have to make a choice between eating gluten-free and nutrient-dense. I didn't want to choose between taste and compromising my digestion. I didn't want to fall for clever packaging and buzz-words, only to realize the product I bought wasn't as healthy as it claimed. 

Since I wasn't finding this in stores, I was inspired to create ONANA. With the grateful assistance and support of my mom and ONANA Foods Cofounder, Donna, we began recipe testing in 2017, striving to create a product based around our core beliefs: allergen-free, nutrient-dense, and label transparency. After more than a year of trying new recipes and hand-making tortillas in my home kitchen, we created a gluten-free tortilla made with a few ingredients, easy methods, and a delicious outcome. I was eager to share these tortillas with family and friends that have expressed their longing for gluten-free products that had better for you and less ingredients, all while still tasting great!

While the kitchen has changed from my apartment kitchen to an industrial space, and the name has evolved from Positively Plantain to ONANA, our product is still the same - a delicious and nutritious allergen-free tortilla.

With ONANA Foods, what you see is what you get. Our tortillas have more Vitamin A, C, B6 and Magnesium per tortilla than the leading brands sold on the market today and will please the palate of even the pickiest eater. Whether you are looking for an allergy-friendly tortilla or a delicious vessel for all of your taco fillings, look no further than ONANA.