Just ahead of the summer barbecue season in the United States, which unofficially kicks off May 28 on Memorial Day, Tribalí Foods has listed two products from its clean meat patties line at 185 Super Target stores across the nation. Now available are Mediterranean Style Beef and Chipotle Chicken flavors in 16-ounce packs containing four patties. Both organic offerings are Paleo-certified, Whole30-approved, Non-GMO Project Verified and free of gluten, dairy and soy.
The San Marino, California based company initially launched its range, which includes Umami Beef Patties, at natural foods stores on the US West Coast in 2017. Among retailers showcasing the assortment then and now are Whole Foods Markets, Erewhon, Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres.
Offering consumers organic beef patties made exclusively from grass-fed cattle, Angela Bicos Mavridis says her Tribalí team’s “fun-loving, foraging foodies are here to make the world healthier – one plate at a time.”“As a young startup in the organic food industry, we are thrilled about the opportunity to introduce more people to our patties as they are shopping at their local Super Target,” said Angela Bicos Mavridis, chief executive officer and founder. “Both of the products we’re initially launching at Target are delicious, healthy options for a week night dinner or a summer cookout, and we look forward to hearing about the creative ways our new customers incorporate Tribalí into their meals.”
Mavridis, a holistic nutritionist, created the brand in 2016 to make eating healthier foods a tasty as well as convenient experience. After 35 years as a vegetarian, she rediscovered the Paleo diet, which mirrored the culinary traditions of her upbringing in an ethnic Greek household. In turn, she realized that the consumption of high quality and humanely raised animal proteins, a colorful variety of vegetables and fruits, and measured intake of high-quality fats were what made her feel healthy, satiated and energized.
Paleo is a Greek word that has come to represent the modern desire of a growing number of consumers around the world to eat wholesome, ancestral foods that have sustained human beings for many generations. During summers spent in Greece during her youth, the Tribalí Foods founder saw her grandmother cooking from scratch, using only organic, local ingredients prepared according to recipes passed down through the generations. Angela vividly remembers grocery runs through the village.
Her first stop was at the “manavi” (vegetable grocer) for fresh tomatoes, zucchini, dandelions, or other recently picked vegetables. Next up was a visit to “Kiria Eleni” (Mrs. Helen) for fresh eggs. Lastly was a stop at a neighboring farm for fresh, raw goat’s milk or cheese. Before deciding what to make for dinner, grandmother would check to see the availability of fish that had been caught that very day by local fisherman. Whole, fresh, real, caught, gathered, or grown – that’s the food that made up Angela’s plate growing up.
Today, it’s fresh-frozen beef and poultry that are fresher than fresh. Organic, pasture-raised beef and free-range chicken used to make the patties in Tribalí Foods’ portfolio are sustainably sourced from family ranches and farms that shun the use of added antibiotics and added hormones. Blended with locally sourced herbs and vegetables such as shiitake mushrooms, poblanos and fire-roasted garlic, Tribalí products contain no added sugar, preservatives, binders or fillers.
The company’s commitment to quality ingredients has generated considerable interest from the food industry and press. Last month, the editorial team at Eat This, Not That! named its Chipotle Chicken Patties as one of the “best, healthiest meals in the freezer aisle.” Additionally, in March Tribalí received a Best New Frozen Product designation at the biannual NEXTY Awards program during the Natural Products Expo West held in Anaheim.
