Why we created RARA
Teke Keuning
RARA was founded by two childhood friends. We grew up together, playing in each other’s kitchens and sharing birthday cake at each other’s parties. Years later, we found ourselves at the same table again, asking the same question.
It started with our kids
It’s cheesy, but it’s true: once I had kids, my priorities changed. I’ve always read labels and tried to live intentionally. But suddenly I realized I had no idea what my kids were actually eating. The pouches that seemed healthy. The grilled cheese and soda. Too much salt and too much sugar, hidden in nearly every item in our pantry.
So the big bag of white sugar got banned from our house.
But a life without sweetness?
Was I really going to cut sugar out of my life? No more latte in the morning. No more crème brûlée. No more birthday cake. Some of my most cherished memories have something sweet in them.
I’m a father, but I’m also a hopeless romantic who likes to share a lava cake. A pedantic foodie with a terrible sweet tooth. Surely there was another way.
So many questions
Why is salt and sugar in everything? What is it really doing to us? What is sugar, even, and what kinds are there? What did people do before industrial sugar? And what if we just ate less of it?
Eat less sugar. Make it count.
That last question became our answer. Less sugar, and real sugar when you do. Sugar you can see, taste, and choose. Sugar with an origin: single-ingredient, minimally processed, full of character. The sugars chefs and bartenders have loved for years, with so much flavor that a little goes a long way.
That became RARA. Our Demerara is single origin, from Guyana. Our Date sugar is nothing but dates, dried and ground. Each one sits in a shaker tube on the table, out in the open, so sweetness becomes something you add on purpose, a few shakes at a time.
The sweet life
For us, intentional living isn’t about saying no to the good stuff. It’s about choosing it. Birthdays, morning coffee, pancakes on a Sunday, a lava cake for two. Those are the moments we want to protect for our kids, and for ourselves.
Real sugar, thoughtfully sourced, for the people you love. Welcome to our table.
