The Food That Made Me

Kids, building something from scratch is hard. No, I’m not talking about Jenga blocks, though that can be challenging at times. In the summer of 2026, daddy wanted to start a soup company. The idea started with mommy because I needed to make sure that I was feeding both her and you as you grew inside her. Nutrition is hard. It is a project that I had been thinking about for over a year. It stalled because daddy was afraid to start it himself, and the margins are lower than desired. Daddy would have to sell many, many soups in order to make it a full-time gig. So, he has been waiting on a business partner. Lo and behold, Mommy’s friend comes into the picture. We are both currently parents of a 6-month-old, and both want to start a company to provide moms with nutritious soups.

A little background about the business. It will strive to create Cantonese/Chinese soups inspired by our family traditions and cultural heritage. It aims to preserve traditional recipes while making nutritious soups accessible to modern customers. Modern families often lack time and knowledge to adequately nourish their bodies. In addition, Americans in general lack the concept of nourishing their bodies on a regular basis.

So….. Da. Da. Da. Da. The pending name of the business is Nourishing Traditions. Because my hope for the business is to help others understand wellness and nourishment better. Plus, as older generations pass away, many family recipes and food traditions are being lost. I want to preserve both.

But launching a business is hard… You have to think about your customers, product line, marketing strategy, startup costs, cost structure, risk assessment, dry running, business licenses, legal stuff, and the list can go on.

Currently, we are in the Research and Development phase. We are cooking soups and testing which ones we would like the best. So far, I like the one with Pork Bones and Almond Milk the best.

What’s the point of this post? The process is slow and frustrating. 37 days have passed since the start of our partnership. We only have a name and two potential soups. It can be easy for me to start to feel disappointed. I wish we were already doing the business license and dry-running. But I have to trust the process and continue to stick to it, as mommy says. And daddy has the tendency to bounce to another idea, like his daddy does a lot. So, daddy is going to stick with this one step at a time.