Elmhurst® Nominated for Veggie Award

One of the nice things about being “simpler” is that small things matter. We can watch cashew milk disperse into iced coffee with pure satisfaction. So you can imagine what big things feel like.

And we’ve just had a pretty big thing. Our full line of clean-label, creamy and delicious nut milks is nominated for a 2018 VegNews Veggie Award in the category of Best Milk. The winners will be revealed in the November/December 2018 edition. (A gentle reminder: you can vote here and win a number of vegan prizes.)

This reminds us of how far we have come in a year and a half. It would, in fact, be our second Veggie Award. We can imagine the faceless voice announcing, as we walk down the aisle to the swelling music and a sea of applause, “This is the second Veggie Award for Elmhurst Milked…”

That’s a nice dream, but it isn’t the only one.

FIRST YEAR EXCITEMENT

Last year we were just a little proud to be the VegNews Editor’s Pick for Company of the Year.2 Especially given that it was Elmhurst’s first year of existence.

Elmhurst debuted in March 2017 at Natural Products Expo West. Here in Anaheim we showcased our first four products: a line of clean-label nutmilks. At the corresponding East Coast event in September, VegWorld magazine awarded Elmhurst the distinction of Best Vegan Milk. Courtney Garza wrote of our showing in Baltimore: “Their new oat, rice, and peanut chocolate milk truly blew me away.”3 We’ll take it.

Add this to the self-fulfillment of bringing something special to market – it was a good year.

SECOND YEAR PERSPECTIVE

This one is not an editor’s award. We have to “get out the vote.” If you love Elmhurst, that’s your cue.

But, in the end, even being nominated is pretty good. When you accept “simpler, better” as a code to live by, you may find that those big expectations of life fall away. Winning is not as important as running – or even walking – the race. Particularly if you can feel the breeze and smell the air.

We may not be Meryl Streep (yet), but we are happy to be recognized. And, as the evening folds over the day, the hum of late summer crickets and a glass of Elmhurst will do us just fine.

 

 

1 VegNews, “2018 Veggie Awards”
2 VegNews, “2017 Veggie Awards,” 11-1-18
3 Courtney Garza, “Best of Expo East,” VegWorld, Nov-Dec 2017
4 New Hope Network, “The Best of the Best: The Natural Products Expo East 2017 NEXTY Award Winners,” 9-18-17.