The investment banking couple quit their high profile jobs to serve their sense of purpose as they were always passionate to do something with Ayurveda and thus was born Elements Truffle
Our Bureau
New Jersey, NJ
The vice presidents at a top investment banking company found something missing when everything was going very well. Without much of a plan, Alak finally gave in to her inner voice and quit her job. Whiteboarding sessions began over a cup of steaming hot chocolate – our constant. We were passionate about doing something in wellness and food. And one aspect that kept popping up was Ayurveda. It was the missing sense of purpose that led the New Jersey-based couple to set up Elements Truffle. The concept is rooted in Ayurveda, and in the couple’s passion for clean, functional, and yummy food.
Elements Truffle offers decadent, artisanal chocolates infused with ancient superfoods and are heavy metal safe.
“Unlike many health trends that had emerged and vanished, Ayurveda had been around for over 5000 years! It stood the test of time. Turmeric, Ayurveda’s poster child, was walking the ramps all over, but Ayurveda was still patiently waiting for her moment. We knew that we had to dress her up in a bar of chocolate and present it to the world,” says the enterprising couple.
They sell a line of attractively packaged bars – labels are block printed with vegetable ink and stitched onto boxes – made without refined sugar or soy. Instead, such selections as Sea Salt with Turmeric and Orange Quinoa are sweetened with local honey and made with ethically sourced cacao from Ecuador.
“Looking back, Ayurveda was so deeply rooted in our ecosystem growing up. However, we barely valued it. Over the last 16 years, as we grew in our meditation practice, our eating habits started to align with Ayurveda. A somewhat unvalued science that was culturally integrated in our lifestyle growing up was now gently navigating us back to our roots,” they enlighten.
Alak got busy in the kitchen, while Kushal became the official taste tester. One day, against the resistance from every cell of her body, he signed them up for a local market in Williamsburg. “We were sold out in the first few hours. And we knew we were up to something,” beams Vasa and Choksi.
It’s a dream and a big one. I want to see an Ayurveda aisle in all major grocery stores across US. Ayurveda is so universal that it deserves an aisle of its own,” says Vasa, the co-founder of Elements Truffle. “The challenges are there as we still need to educate people about the benefits of Ayurveda,” quips Choksi with a warm grin.
