Groovy Foods brings health vegan options to Delano community

September 22, 2021 /

Delano residents and cousins Erika Chavez and Leonela Lopez are spicing things up in their kitchen with a new business endeavor — Groovy Foods.

Groovy Foods, an all vegan food business, started this past summer when Chavez’s mother began cooking homemade vegan meals. The cousins both joked about selling homemade vegan meals, but never thought it
would become a reality. Chavez said Groovy foods is not your typical vegan dish, rather it is something out of the norm.

“We have our corundas that’s a typical Mexican dish, but we make it with a twist and add tofu,” said Chavez. “Instead of adding pork meat, we add the tofu and some vegan cheese.”

Groovy foods is enriched in culture and even the names of the dishes have meaning and a purpose to them.

“The falafel is something that we got inspiration from when we traveled to Greece and added a Mexican twist to it with our homemade salsa,” said Lopez. “The inspiration between our food is the name.”

For example, the Keteran salad is an inspiration from their trip to the island of Keterian in Greece. The Nico Falafel also goes back to Greece because their first friend in Greece was named Nico, and he introduced Chavez and Lopez to the Greek falafel.

Lopez also mentioned that there are some people who can’t travel so when people take a bite of the falafel the intention is for them to transport to Greece and get a taste of Greece.

Chavez said they try to minimize artificial processed foods and keep it organic and homemade. All the fruits and vegetables they use for their groovy meals are straight from their garden.

“We have tomatoes in our backyard, so we cut them fresh and use them to make the salsa or the salad. We also have zucchini, squash, pumpkin, red peppers so we also try to contribute to that part where we really do all that’s in our hands to make the food as fresh and organic and
homemade as possible,” said Chavez.

Chavez said the purpose of groovy foods is not because they want to make money, it’s to spread the message of health. For Chavez health is a priority, and one component of health is the foods people eat.

She also said it is a good way to give back to the community and really change the perception of the fact that vegan food doesn’t have to be expensive and flavorless.

“It makes us feel responsible in a sense where we hold responsibility to continue sharing this and give back to the community. Groovy Foods is helping us spread the message and is kind of the vehicle to help us deliver the message,” said Chavez.

A huge part of Groovy Foods is also Kangen water, an antioxidant rich water packed with molecular hydrogen. This machine that creates Kangen water is from Japan and is the most hydrated water that you can drink. This water can be used for other things other than drinking because it has different PH levels to choose from.

Lopez said with every Groovy meal purchased, they like to give a jar full of Kangen water to their customers, so they feel hydrated while alongside eating food that is nourishing your body and that is what brings them happiness.

“The reason why people should drink kangen water is because they need to be healing their bodies from inside so when they are drinking antioxidants they are basically combatting all the free radicals in your body that eat all of your healthy cells,” said Lopez. “Kangen water makes it easy for you to be taking care of your body.”

Chavez and Lopez plan on establishing Groovy Foods in Delano, but also want to take it wherever they travel next because to them Groovy Foods is all about building communities and spreading the message everywhere they go.

“Let’s say we go to Italy, we want to open up a falafel stand there and Groovy Foods is now in Italy and we build a community there. We want groovy foods to be world wide,” said Chavez. “It originated as a shack on the go so we kind of imagine four wheels on it but to us those wheels are also airplane wings and trains.”

Lopez and Chavez said they are committed to bringing and spreading the message about health to others. They also want people to know that they are not trying to turn people vegan. Their goal is to teach others about taking care of their bodies with the food they eat because everyone has health to take care of.

To order your Groovy meal, head to groovyfoods.co.