Erewhon Organic

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Erewhon Organic
SubsidiariesU.S. Mills

Erewhon Organic (pronounced AIR-wahn) was an organic cereal

Post Foods, and replaced by Three Sisters Foods, which sells a similar product line of organic cereals.[2]

"Erewhon" is derived from the 1872 satirical novel Erewhon by Samuel Butler. In the novel, Erewhon (an anagram of “nowhere”) is a utopia in which individuals are responsible for their own health.

History

Since the early 1950s, married couple Aveline Kushi and Michio Kushi had been introducing modern macrobiotics into the United States from Japan.

They were both students of

shoyu
purchased from Howard Rower's Infinity Foods and Japan Foods Corp., both in New York.

The Kushis soon realized that the quality of food needed was not available in the United States. When Michio Kushi discussed his difficulties with an old university friend, his friend remembered a former schoolmate who was now in the import and export business. He thought his business friend in Tokyo, Japan, might be able to help: Akiyoshi Kazama, the founder of Mitoku.

In August 1967, environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken took over the management of Erewhon, changed the name to Erewhon Trading Co., and began to expand the business. By the early 1970s, Erewhon began contracting with farmers to produce organically grown crops. By 1973 it had established and contracted with 57 farms in 35 states. It also became one of the first companies to establish a “Charter of Quality Standards for Natural Products” for their product line.

By 1979, Erewhon's rapid growth stretched its cash flow and financing capacity and the company began experiencing financial difficulties. The business expanded until it included 4,000 products, servicing 2,000 customers by February 1981. As these troubles worsened, many supplier companies stopped shipping to the Boston firm. Because of a deep personal commitment to the Kushis, Kazama continued to fill orders. When Erewhon finally filed for

bankruptcy in November 1981, Mitoku was its largest creditor and took a $300,000 loss.[3]

After a series of setbacks during the ensuing years, Erewhon celebrated its resurgence by acquiring[clarification needed] U.S. Mills in 1986. U.S. Mills, which was founded in 1908, effectively merged with Erewhon as their line of whole grain cereals and simple manufacturing methods were consistent with Erewhon's.

In 2009,

cereals including six gluten free
cereals under the Attune Foods banner.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-928914-33-4
    .
  2. ^ "Erewhon Organic on Twitter". Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. ^ John Belleme: Mitoku - Japan's Natural Foods Pioneer Archived 2015-07-30 at the Wayback Machine Macrobiotics Today, November/December 2002 (vol. 42, No. 6)

External links

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