Essence of Life Organics

Sandy Lu’s mother was always a health nut, even back in her native Taiwan. “She was a midwife and when my sister and I were growing up, she had all sorts of ideas about what was healthy,” says Sandy.

Her mom had a lot of Chinese medicines around. “I thought it was so weird," recalls Sandy. "Here we were drinking medicinal soup out of twigs and wild berries and eating barley buckwheat instead of the traditional white rice every Asian family eats. None of my friends were doing that.” So it wasn’t really much of a stretch that the Lus would end up opening an organic health food store in Kensington Market in 1998.

They got their start by owning a convenience store but Sandy’s dad, who was an importer/exporter by trade, wanted to strike out on his own. Essence of Life Organic Natural Foods was the perfect marriage for Sandy’s parents, she says. “It was a combination of his savvy business sense and her love of health foods.”