- When Megen Hurst was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis she had to stop eating chocolate
- Her and her husband Brent then started making their own chocolate eliminating non-essential ingrediants
- They now own a shop in downtown St. Johns that caters to all that struggle with allergens
When it comes to food, many of us have a sweet tooth, but for co-owner of OHMI Organics, Megen Hurst, her sweet tooth had to be altered.
"I had to cut chocolate out of my life. It was gone." said Hurst
Megen was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Being the reason that she had to forfeit many other foods in her life. Chocolate being the hardest one. So the solution was to make her own.
With the help of her husband Brent, the pair found a recipe using just 4 ingredients that made their now 200 flavors of chocolate not only just delicious, but for everyone to enjoy by eliminating commonly used ingredients we see in most food today.
"There's a lot of people that are afflicted with things that she is that you don't realize when it's just one person. Once you start doing something like this, everyone comes out and you realize the impact of what it is." said Brent Hurst
And Megen says that that impact they make on those that deal with similar issues makes all the difference.
"Its really rewarding. I really love seeing the look on people's faces when they're like 'I can have everything here?' because I have food allergies, and I understand how they feel." said Megen
And now that the business is off its feet and very well known, Megen says that the St. johns Feastival on September 16th is the perfect spot to share the love.
"We've got 74 vendors coming, 27 of them are food trucks. there is stuff to do all day long." said Megen
The St. Johns Feastival is an event for people all over Michigan that want to buy local. Only food companies, farms, and food trucks from Michigan attend and sell products that are home grown and made here in the state. For a true Michigan experience.
And as president of the non-profit Eat Healthy Eat Local, Megen says that the mission is to improve the community with their proceeds.
"Our ultimate goal is that we are going to open up a health food store in town here with all the proceeds we've been collecting over the years."
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