Acai History - Acai Berry

Acai in Brasil

The history of the berry from the Brazilian Amazon that is changing the concept of healthy food. Acai (açaí - a-sigh-ee) is a palm tree that grows in the North of Brazil. It is known by the native people (indigenas) as "içá-çai", which means “fruit that cries”. The Acai tree can be found all over the Amazonia region. To make Acai Roots, juice is extracted from the pulp of the skin of the seed. No trees are harmed in the process. For hundreds of years, acai (açaí) has been a traditional food of the native people of the Amazon – and part of its folklore, finding its way into legend as well as onto the table. Once upon a time, there was an Amazon Indian girl named Iaca, whose father was the tribal chief. His tribe had grown so large that there wasn’t enough food to go around. So, the chief decreed that all newborn babies must be killed. When Iaca, his own daughter, bore a child, the chief had his decree carried out. Iaca mourned her baby’s death alone in her hut for days. Then she thought she heard a baby crying. When she went outside in search of the baby, she saw a palm tree shooting up from the earth, covered in fruit. Full of despair, she lay down under the tree and died. The next day, the tribe found Iaca’s body under the new tree. The tree’s fruit satisfied their hunger and renewed their energy, and the chief lifted his harsh decree, declaring that the fruit would be named after his daughter (“Acai” is “Iaca” spelled backwards). With abundant food for all, the tribe grew and flourished. Acai has been enjoyed for decades by the people of Brazil. A bowl of Acai is usually eaten in the morning with breakfast. In the 1950’s, doctors began to realize the health benefits of Acai. In the 1960’s, the famous Gracie jiu-jitsu family recommended eating Acai before and after workouts. Recently, several new medical studies in the United States and Europe have found even more exciting health benefits of Acai. To learn more about acai health benefits click here.

Acai in Rio

Even though acai grows far away from Rio de Janeiro (thousands of miles), it was in Rio where acai gained a lot of publicity and some real powerful endorsers. Brought to the city in the 70-80's by northern Brazilians who moved to Rio, or "cariocas" (people born in Rio) who had roots in Para or Amazonas - acai started being consumed as a natural source of energy by cariocas on a daily basis. Cariocas are known for their very active and healthy lifestyle - and acai was a perfect combination. At that point another Amazon treasure called Guarana had been used for many decades as a natural energy booster, and since acai could only be brought frozen from the North - it was created the Acai Bowls Rio Style ("acai na tigela"): a delicious and healthy combination of frozen acai, guarana, fresh fruit and granola. This style of acai quickly became very popular with amateur and professional sports practicants such as Surf, Jiu-Jitsu, Capoeira, Futebol (soccer), Beach Volley, Futvolley, etc.

Acai Roots Story - the lifestyle

Our story with acai starts in the early 80's when our founders - all of us were born and raised in Rio - growing up and being spoiled with most tasteful acai smoothies and bowls on the planet. Two of us grew up in "Zona Sul" (South Zone) - the area in Rio where acai became real big first. Our third founder grew up in Barra da Tijuca - where acai was also part of the "mandatory" healthy diet combined with outdoors activities (playing ball at the beach, running, surfing, etc). The roots of our company were being slowly formed with the lifestyle and obviously lots of acai! Acai in Rio (for those of you who haven't had the opportunity to visit this amazing city) is everywhere, it is literally part of the carioca's life. You go to the beach you eat acai, you go to have lunch next door, you eat acai with your favorite sandwich or before you go to the gym, or just during a busy working day! It is just part of our lives.

Acai Roots DNA was created back then when we were growing with this lifestyle. Many years later when we met in California around 2003 we were talking about how great was growing up in Rio with that super active lifestyle - practicing lots of sports (all of us are very much into it), and having acai everyday - and that was a big missing piece for us: the acai. We all knew we could find some acai here (there was already a couple of companies bringing it to the US), but we all agreed it just wasn't what we grew up with. It was nice to be able to get it here, but the fact it was so different really made us decide to start Acai Roots. Plus we also knew that just bringing the acai wasn't really the big thing, the big thing for us was to bring our lifestyle - and that you can only do if you grew up with it - you can't replicate that.