For over three years now, Filipino brand Honest Junk has been serving delicious, healthy and affordable snacks.
“Our first goal was to junk people’s perceptions of what healthy tastes like,” said Celine Gabriel Lim, who created Honest Junk with Tina Lagdameo. “So many people think that if something is good for you, it probably tastes bad. We wanted to debunk this.”
Honest Junk’s products are made using “natural and mindful ingredients” and are lower in sugar, low sodium, gluten-free, preservative-free, fortified with superfoods and contain no artificial colors or flavors. They also offer vegan options.
Lim and Lagdameo made sure they kept their products affordable. Lim said, “Healthy food is usually expensive. So we created products most people could afford because we wanted to encourage them to make better choices for themselves.”
Lim calls their Honest Junk’s Super Gummies “probably the healthiest gummy bear snacks.”
The gummies, which come in fruit flavors, are fortified with moringa (malunggay). “We sweeten our gummy bears with natural juice and coconut sugar—no refined sugar. Malunggay is one of the most powerful superfoods in the world and it’s so abundant,” said Lim.
Cheese Barks, thin and crisp cheesy crackers fortified with superfoods, are made using artisanal cheese from Malagos Farms in Mindanao.
The Super Cookies are vegan, nut-free, gluten-free, low-sugar and -sodium, and fortified with superfoods. Lagdameo’s favorite is the cocoa nib variants—their healthier take on chocolate chip cookies. The cocoa nibs are also sourced from Malagos Farms.
Love Local
Like all other businesses, the pandemic has affected Honest Junk but that hasn’t stopped the brand from serving their customers and wanting to make a difference.
“It’s been a difficult year for most of us, but, yet again, Filipinos have displayed their resilience, courage, kindness, empathy and fortitude,” said Lim. “We felt so inspired by the bayanihan spirit that we felt moved to create a special product inspired by this very wonderful trait.”
They just introduced Love Local, their popular Super Gummies mixed with bite-sized dried fruit that come in special packs. The packs feature artwork by Honest Junk’s graphic artist Maysie Lagman that was inspired by the outpouring of generosity they’ve seen from Filipinos during the pandemic.
And here’s the beautiful thing—for every pack of Love Local sold, Honest Junk will donate a mask to Kythe Foundation for children battling cancer. Lim said, “I’ve been supporting Kythe Foundation for many years. They put in so much heart into what they do … Children with cancer are one of the most vulnerable to the virus, so the idea clicked easily in my head.”
Wholly Scrap!
Honest Junk has partnered with Wholly Scrap!, which provides work for displaced Filipino seamstresses.
“The masks that will be donated to the children of Kythe are made with upcycled material and handmade with love,” said Candy de Ocampo Pacla.
Just like Honest Junk, Wholly Scrap! is the result of a partnership between friends, Pacla and Joycelyn Victoria.
Pacla, whose father Benny de Ocampo is the founder of the 55-year-old Exclusively His Tailoring business, had long observed how much fabric was being thrown away from their 12 branches.
After finding out how much time it takes for fabric to decompose, she decided to find ways to use the excess fabric from their shops. “I thought that something needed to be done. I have children, and I thought about what their future would be like with all the environmental problems.”
Victoria’s parents both battled cancer—her father went through radiation and chemotherapy and eventually succumbed to the disease, while her mother went for alternative treatment and has been cancer-free for more than seven years now.
It was their fight against the disease and her love for the environment that made Victoria switch to a plant-based diet, use products made from natural ingredients and consciously and conscientiously segregate trash. “I dream of a cleaner environment for future generations, for them to be able to enjoy clean sea waters and cleaner air,” she said.
Good quality
Wholly Scrap! is the result of their combined passion for the environment. Their seamstresses have been using Japan cotton fabric scraps from Exclusively His Tailoring and meticulously sewing them into masks. “The material is of good quality and the fit, especially for kids ages 2-3 years old, provides good coverage. Our masks also have side pockets to accommodate the cloth filter which is designed to be breathable,” said Pacla.
Their seamstresses are displaced workers from other companies. The more Wholly Scrap! products sold, the more seamstresses they can help.
“Each purchase of Wholly Scrap! products is also a way of supporting our advocacy of upcycling, repurposing and contributing to helping the environment recover from everyday abuse, especially now with the production of disposable masks and gloves and the use of plastic wraps, adhesive tapes and plastic bags as a result of the pandemic,” said Pacla and Victoria.
The women of Honest Junk and Wholly Scrap! believe that now is a time for supporting homegrown brands and products.
“Let’s all try and help our local economy. We really need to boost not only the Philippine trade and commerce, but also the morale of the Filipinos,” said Pacla.
For Love Local packs: myhonestjunk.com, email hello@myhonestjunk.com, text tel. no. (0977) 620-5837.
There’s an early-bird promo for Christmas shoppers this month.
Honest Junk: Instagram (@honestjunk) and Facebook: Honest Junk
Wholly Scrap!, tel. nos. (0917) 890-9478 and (0917) 848-0017; Instagram (whollyscrap.ph) and Facebook: Wholly Scrap!