Integritus Prime

Since I was 16, I’ve been cooking, baking, and pretty much obsessed with experimenting with flavors and forms. As a result of this obsession, I began writing cookbooks, and soon my intrepid partner in crime, Dr. Margaret Cornelius, joined me. We have produced six plant-based cookbooks since 2015. Excitingly, we are also preparing to launch three new services related to our love of food.

The first is a set of short courses designed to help individuals build competency in making plant-based, gluten-free, low oil, low salt, zero refined sugar meals and desserts. This service will be in partnership with the Pacific Polytech, an up and coming institution in Fiji that focuses on competency-based training in everything from construction and automotive engineering to media and life skills. Pacific Polytech has campuses in Suva, Nausori , Tavua and Lautoka. We will be teaching life skills courses in Suva that focus on local plant-based cooking, and collaborating with Josh Uluilakeba, the intrepid Maoli Chef, as he develops certificate level programs for sous chefs and chefs who want to master plant-based cuisine.

Our second service is called TreatBox – and our slogan is “Let’s Get Delicious!” Over the years we’ve noticed that those with allergies, lifestyle diseases, wellness motivations or ethical reasons for avoiding dairy, gluten, and refined sugars have few options for sweet treats when it comes to special occasions. Due to our own genetic risk factors for lifestyle diseases and our passion for wellness, we’ve been experimenting for a few years with healthy desserts and treats, including laddoos (bliss balls), barfi (brownie-like slices), puddings, and pies. We are going to be launching our first set of TreatBoxes to coincide with Raksha Bandhan – a Hindu ritual focused on brother-sister relationships. We will have TreatBox available every other month, for occasions like Fiji Day and Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, Diwali, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. Through this service, we hope to support people from all backgrounds enjoy treats without feeling left out, and without harming their health in any way.

Each TreatBox will contain a sampler of dairy-free, gluten-free, and plant-based treats that contain zero refined sugar, and feature local ingredients. We will provide a healthy alternative to traditional sweets, which tend to be loaded with harmful sugar (refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, etc.), dairy (cow’s milk, butter, and ghee), and gluten (wheat products that give us mental fog and gut problems if we are sensitive to it).

Our third service is specialty catering – plant-based, gluten-free, low oil, low salt, high protein meals and desserts with absolutely no refined sugar. We began catering recently not because we planned it, but because we were approached by a colleague to provide healthy plant-based meals and desserts. So, we pivoted and met that demand. We are excited to roll out our catering menu in the next few week or less – stay tuned.

We stand by four values that we infuse into every delicious treat or meal we make:

1. Our food choices need not contribute to making us sick or increasing our risk of lifestyle diseases
2. We should be able to eat food and desserts without guilt and fear of harmful consequences
3. Treats can be minimally processed, local, plant-based, gluten-free, dairy-free, and without refined sugar, AND still be delicious
4. No lives need to be harmed for us to enjoy treats — what’s good for us is good for all life too

Stay tuned for these services and if you are in Suva, ask us how you can take our courses or enjoy a TreatBox soon or hit us up for some specialty catering. Our food, treats, and courses also make amazing gift ideas. We are excited to take a step into the food entrepreneur (foodpreneur) world. Join us and let’s get delicious.