About Us
the mood food mission
Mood Food Wellness Co. is a forward thinking wellness brand focused on making it easier for everyone to better understand and nourish the deeply rooted connection between food, mood and wellness.
We are on a mission to prove that healthy food should never have to look or taste like "health food", and that healthy living should feel like a celebration, not a sacrifice.
We believe that better living begins identifying and understanding our bio-individual needs, and it is our mission to help everyone achieve and nurture that understanding in a way that easily integrates into everyday life with our unique blend of educational content, lifestyle offerings and wellness events.
organic origins
Mood Food Wellness Co. began in June of 2019 around a kitchen table in a coastal community when a group of friends realized that their relaxed gatherings had turned into some very impactful learning experiences as each of them became more informed about different elements of mental and physical health and began to organically share this information at their food-focused gatherings.
During these gatherings, the group would casually share recipes, products, articles and advice that everyone seemed to find themselves easily integrating into their everyday lives once they had left the table.
The group also found that when they left these gatherings they never felt like they had over indulged, despite having spent hours around the table eating, drinking and indulging in each other's company. In contrast, they felt energized, empowered and inspired to embrace the rest of the day!
It didn't take long for Melissa to realize that the group had stumbled upon something special and she quickly began working a concept that would capture the magic of their gatherings in away that could be shared with the community.
While trying to figure our what made these gatherings so special, a few things quickly became apparent.
The group hadn't come to learn - they came to socialize.
There was no judgment at the table - everyone had come to indulge.
Everything on the table was made with REAL FOOD - so there was nothing to avoid.
And, most importantly, all of the information they shared was being presented and processed in an organic way that seemed to help the information sink in much more easily than any educational experience ever had.
Upon diving deeper into why learning seemed so much easier at these gatherings, the group discovered that they had serendipitously created an ideal learning situation by entering into a relaxed state and engaging all of their senses while they shared information with each other!
By relaxing themselves and engaging all of their senses, everyone at the table was unknowingly helping their bodies to create a densely woven network of neural pathways back to those memories in their mind.
So, when the thought of that delicious bite came to mind, so did all of the great feelings of mental and physical health they were feeling in the moment, and most importantly, so did the information in the conversation they were having!
All of a sudden, striving to live better didn't seem like such a challenge for the group because it had simply become an ongoing and inspiring conversation between friends - and that conversation that has continued to flow and grow for over two years now!
pandemic pivots
In early 2020, with a full calendar of Spring and Summer events lined up, what was then known as Mood Food Events, was faced with a brand altering "new normal" that prohibited gatherings in response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
While there was no doubt that the Mood Food mission would continue into this "new normal", it took Melissa a moment to come up with a brand pivot that would allow the company to serve it's community until everyone is able to gather in person again.
Melissa knew that it was most important to create a way for the Mood Food community to connect online. So, she immediately created the Test Kitchen Club as a way to gather Mood Food's community of followers and began reaching out to the amazing people she had connected with through Mood Food Events over the last year to form the Mood Food Wellness Collective, a diverse network of local wellness advocates that would share digital content in the Test Kitchen Club and participate in upcoming virtual events.
With the online community in place and virtual events in the works, Melissa moved on to making it easier for her community to easily access the clean, local products from the #moodfoodapproved brands they had come to love and began working to bring the Mood Food Marketplace to life.
After quickly connecting with all of her favorite local brands, Melissa began researching and reaching out to small businesses from throughout the country to source a diverse selection of all natural food, beverage, lifestyle and wellness products made with exclusively clean ingredients by small independent brands. In addition to all of these new features, Melissa also launched a variety of mail-order subscription boxes featuring Marketplace products.
By late April, what had previously been an events based company had officially become a multifaceted lifestyle and wellness brand, and once the evolution had become apparent, the brand's formal transition from Mood Food Events to Mood Food Wellness Co. simply seemed like the next natural step!
As restrictions lifted and it became safe to gather again, Melissa made the decision to pare down Mood Food's online offerings by discontinuing our subscription services and closing the Mood Food Marketplace in an effort to refocus the company's resources on creating the immersive wellness experiences that made Mood Food famous!
our podcast era
coming soon!
Meet Melissa!
The Founder of Mood Food Wellness Co.
Melissa Peralta is a free spirited entrepreneur with a unique education, diverse professional background and deep seated passion for pursuing projects that bring more joy to the world around her. Whether she is working with the Mood Food Wellness Co., her bespoke catering and event company Suddenly Simple Events, or one of the many other projects she is a part of, Melissa is always looking for an opportunity to help others embrace better living and integrate more elements of wellness into their everyday lives!