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Nestled in the corner of a bustling shopping center in South Pasadena sits the humble family-owned health food store Grassroots Natural Market and Kitchen. “Your health is our business,” is displayed on a huge banner as customers enter the oversized single automatic sliding door.

John Novak / Courier Noah Puni stands next to raw milk sold at his family owned health store, Grassroots Natural Market and Kitchen, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013.
John Novak / Courier
Noah Puni stands next to raw milk sold at his family owned health store, Grassroots Natural Market and Kitchen, on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013.

To the right of the entrance, a friendly woman was offering samples of egg white chips. Those new to the world of health foods and clean eating might be apprehensive about the unfamiliar labels and vocabulary, but the fresh and savory smells of the kitchen and juice bar are hard to ignore, even if you don’t know what the hell Kombucha is.

If you weren’t hungry before, you will be. Wall to wall chalkboard menus hang above the kitchen area offering anything from homemade fresh smoothies to vegan lasagna. The Saturday lunch rush was starting, and a line was already wrapped around the miscellaneous juice aisle.

Amidst the fit food madness, a guy sporting a black t-shirt with the store’s logo on it was helping a customer near the refrigerated food section. Noah Puni, a PCC and UC Berkeley alumnus was back at his family’s store and with him, a whole new attitude and headful of ideas about healthy living.

The former business, agriculture, and environmental policy student has a newfound appreciation for the store, along with enthusiasm to preach a healthy lifestyle to the community.

“With Grassroots its funny because I’ve kind of come full circle. I didn’t really appreciate what I had and I didn’t realize what was at my disposal,” said Noah. “This store is so great and it’s what I studied. It’s the nexus between business policy, environmental policy, and agriculture. I’ve grown into the store.”

Noah and his family have always believed in living a well-balanced, wholesome lifestyle. A lover of all things chemical free, gluten-free, organic, raw, and vegan, he always had a healthy homemade meal growing up, which was usually fresh from the store itself.

“The lunch I had at school was always the one kids were like ‘what the f**k, I’m not going to trade anything with you,’” said Noah. “I grew up taking supplements and [haven’t taken] more then a handful of antibiotics. I don’t know anything else.”

And so, it’s been the mission of the Punis to inform the public on the importance of healthy living, and reaching out to those seeking guidance to improve their habits.

“My dad sometimes takes an hour talking to people about their lives and health and what not,” said Noah. “Not even to sell them our supplements, just to see how you’re doing and just give you advice. We really care, and it shows because our customers come back. We’ve had the same customers for 30 years. We’re not like whole foods, we’re a little ma and pops.”

Aside from in-store advice, the store is launching its new website and other social media outlets in order to stay involved with the community, something Noah implemented once he was back at Grassroots.

Grab-and-go coolers were another helpful idea that involves recycling the kitchen’s leftovers and turning them into a packaged meal that customers can take. It’s efficient and helps avoid wasting perfectly good food.

“He’s creative and he’s just trying to help us regroup and structure better,” said his mom and Grassroot’s owner Marla Puni. “He’s got some good ideas. It’s good for him, [and] it’s good for us. We need the help with rebranding.”

“Supplement guru” Meir Puni, Noah’s dad and storeowner advises anyone who’s trying to become healthier to just evaluate their mind, body, and spirituality. It’s a simple piece of advice and doesn’t involve consuming raw milk or switching out sucralose for Stevia.

Oh yeah, and put your cell phone away too.

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