What we at Lifefood see as normal is mostly an exception in “Big Business.” Why?

Words like self-sufficiency and a healthy lifestyle are everywhere today. Along with that come questions about where our food comes from. More and more often, everyday consumers want to know the origin of what they eat. Where does it grow, and how is it processed? We sense that this can have a significant - indeed crucial - impact on food quality.

Since Lifefood was founded in 2006, one of our “foundational pillars” has been the need to always have a clear answer to these questions - so we can be sure we’re not part of the “big,” and mostly “harmful,” business-as-usual.

Knowing whom we place our trust in

This approach is demanding on every front - timewise, legally, and especially financially. That’s why it’s still so rare. Ingredients are usually bought from dealers and importers, which is a challenge in itself if you care at all about origin. When you purchase ingredients directly from abroad, they typically pass through several intermediaries before reaching reliable quality control. A lot can happen along the way. In any case, you can never be 100% certain the information is correct, and the chances of getting truly top-quality ingredients in raw form drop significantly.

The whole system is like a game of telephone. We all know it - the sentence that was clear at the start is already garbled by the fifth player, and by the end no one recognizes it. That’s practically what happens when buying ingredients through intermediaries.

Things are entirely different when you put in the effort and deal directly with your farmer. Local farmers and their quality supervisors are happy to show you how the plant grows, how it’s harvested, stored, and processed. There’s nothing like seeing with your own eyes whether chemicals and pesticides are used, or how the local workers are treated.

From the start, Tereza, Lifefood’s founder, has been determined to find her own farmers, build relationships, and maintain them. Only then does she truly know what she’s getting. It’s the single most reliable way Lifefood can keep its promise: that all products are, and will remain, organic - and some still raw.

Farmers abroad

Quality standards in Europe are relatively high compared to much of the world. There are countries where quality is last on the list and “papers” are forged. No surprise: the pressure for productivity is intense and money rules everything. Mass production harms everyone—consumers, because it lowers product quality, and growers, because it destroys relationships and soil. The only winners are export firms and their bank accounts. In these conditions, small farmers who do things differently struggle to survive. Long-term cooperation that gives them certainty is crucial. Their crops are worth it—chemical-free, nutrient-rich, and grown without destroying ecosystems. Their survival quite literally depends on demand from us, the customers.

Rapid mass production at the expense of quality

There’s a category that deserves special attention in this production machine: dried fruit. Mangoes, bananas, pineapples, cacao beans, and many nuts are typically dried at high temperatures and further processed. Mass production does not mean sun-drying by hand. As demand grows, the hunt is on for ever more economical ways to meet it. Slow sun-drying on metal trays is definitely not one of them - it lengthens the process, and in big business, time is money: labor, storage, etc. The price, as we know, is a loss of quality. A small farmer, by contrast, pulls out the trays, checks the sky, and starts drying.

Fairtrade in agriculture

Beyond the quality of raw materials, Lifefood pays attention to working conditions - these go hand in hand. The better people live and the more fairly they’re paid - so they and their families can live with dignity - the higher the quality of the products that pass through their hands. Certainty and fairness also ensure long-term, two-way cooperation that benefits both sides.

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Return to small producers

As awareness grows about the need for sustainability - and about healthy eating as a basic condition for a healthy, happy life - supporting small farmers becomes crucial. Yet they’re still being pushed out by large mass producers.

Is our food really as healthy as we think? Or has it been reduced to edible matter made at the lowest possible cost, with a “healthy” sheen slapped on top? Growing and harvesting matter far more than society seems willing to admit. One thing is certain: at Lifefood we look beneath the surface, and by choosing us, you’re choosing small farmers too. That’s not a small thing. It’s big.

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