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eco is the buzzword of the decade - but what does it mean?

Eco comes from the word ecology, meaning "The study of living things, their environment, and the relation between the two. " In this case, we're talking about humans and the rest of the world.

Ecology, in turn, comes from the Greek: oikos:"household"; and logos: "knowledge." Across thousands of years and miles, the Greek oikos became the modern eco. Knowledge of our house. It's a good place to start.

For Sunny Side Organics, eco is not simply a buzzword, a marketing phrase, or a greenwashing attempt.

Aaron French, chef / owner, has both a B.S. and M.S. in Ecology from University of California, San Diego, and San Francisco State University, and has published ecology papers in both popular and scientific journals.

He spent years traveling the globe as a tropical ecologist, working with rare and endangered species and studying how birds and monkeys help to re-grow the rainforests through a process of seed dispersal after they eat tropical fruits.

During that time he spent several years living with the Baka pygmies in Cameroon, one of the last surviving hunter-gatherer societies to remain on the earth.

He has also completed graduate coursework in Mycology, the scientific study and identification of wild mushrooms.

Aaron spent part of his childhood on a small farm in Sacramento, Ca, where they grew all their own vegetables and fruit and ate the eggs from their free ranging chickens. Eating local meant walking out the back door and harvesting dinner.

All of these diverse experiences inform every decision surrounding Sunny Side Organics.

• All of our packaging is recycled / recyclable.

• Glass is used whenever possible in preference over plastic.

• A "Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition" was given to The Sunny Side Cafe, where the products are made, to honor our "participation in the Green Albany Project, and in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community" from congresswoman Barbara Lee.

• The Sunny Side Cafe and Sunny Side Organics compost all food waste, compost or recycle all paper and cardboard, use energy efficient lights and appliances, and re-use all paper when possible

• At Sunny Side Organics everything that is possible comes from organic sources.

• We exclusively use Fair Trade tea, sugar, coffee, and chocolate.

• We source our products from as local as possible.

We pay attention to where the food comes from, but also how it affects your body.

• Our sugars, in addition to being Fair Trade organic, are also unrefined. We also use raw dried cane juice (sucanat). Of all major sugars derived from sugar cane, sucanat ranks the highest in nutritional value.

• We use organic agave syrup in many products, which is more easily digested by the body.

• We offer tea and chocolate blended for taste but also for health. Our criollo cacao is raw, not roasted, leaving more nutrition in the chocolate - more vitamins, minerals, beta-carotene, zinc, chromium, magnesium, and antioxidant flavonoids.

• Our spice and salt blends encourage experimentation with food and hopefully inspire more home-cooked meals.

• Our dressing concentrates are fat free, and if blended with juice can create amazing dressings without the oil.