This week on With Bowl and Spoon, Shelly sits down with Helena Shorter Alston, founder of Kia Vida Superfoods—a woman whose life has been steeped in food from the very beginning. Born into a family rooted in cooking, farming, and restaurant ownership, Helena was said to be cooking by age two! By 23 she had opened her first restaurant in the Poconos, driven by a simple belief that healthy food should taste good. Her lineage also carries a powerful legacy: her great-grandfather purchased 600 acres in Mississippi where he grew vegetables, raised animals, and gave food away to anyone who needed it.

Helena’s relationship with food only deepened as she moved through the world. While serving in the Peace Corps in Senegal, she encountered Kinkeliba—a traditional West African plant that made such an impression that it later became part of her product line (once it became legal to sell in the U.S.). She went on to explore food science and technology, raise a family, travel widely, and even help feed students after school in Pittsburgh Public Schools. When her husband passed away from diabetes, Helena transformed her grief into purpose, moving her children to Europe to research food, develop recipes, and work on products aimed at preventing diabetes in her family and beyond.

Today, Helena splits her time between Pittsburgh and Florida and leads Kia Vida Superfoods, crafting additive-free, nutrient-dense dehydrated meal kits and teas inspired by every chapter of her life. She’s a cook, a scientist, an educator, and an adventurer whose greatest joy is hearing from people who feel better because of what she makes.

Learn more at kiavidasuperfoods.com or KiaVidaFNS.com.