An Update: Where is the Real Coconut Kitchen now?

April 2024
To the many caring followers and fans who have known and loved the Real Coconut Kitchen, from our early days on the idyllic shores of Tulum beach at Sanará Tulum, to our kitchen garden restaurant in Tulum town, our vibrant Malibu space, and even our product range, you may be wondering, what is next for the Real Coconut?

We currently do not have any locations open, and are not certain that we will open any others in future, however we stay open to the mystery of what may unfold in coming years. Restaurants all over the world are struggling with rising costs, economic pressures, and lower customer traffic, and with a concept such as ours, which held such high standards for sourcing and from-scratch production, these pressures were always difficult to navigate, even from the outset. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to maintain our Malibu space, and strategies to expand the brand into a larger and more efficient structure, with multiple locations, did not materialize with timely flow and grace, allowing us to reflect on whether this truly was the best path for all.

Our flagship Tulum beach location was interconnected and supported by the structure of our hotel, Sanará, and when the natural culmination of our chapter in Tulum came to its conclusion, with our own personal decisions to relocate back to the UK, the Real Coconut was left without a physical space, to exist for the moment simply as a philosophy, a way of eating and choosing to live, and with a multitude of iconic recipes which continue to be relevant today.

During the past eighteen months, we were also challenged with the pressures of continuing to finance the growth and distribution solutions of our Real Coconut/Sana Foods line on the backdrop of rising costs, and production hurdles. We continue to look for ways to reactivate the production and distribution in the US, recognizing the great benefits that our loyal customers gained from having access to these products, and the possibilities for creating wider change across food systems through the use of our hero crops: coconut, cassava, plantain & hemp.

To understand the background behind our transition from Tulum and the US, back to the UK and where we are today, you can read our 2024 update: Reflections, Respite & Re-emergence. Our focus is now consolidated into what we term the Sanará Way…which is the essence, the non-tangible profound principles, underlying of all we have been working on in our projects and personally, and is the platform through which , moving forward, we can continue to develop and uplift, through various channels.

Real Coconut Kitchen: Perspective from the UK…

Over the years, so many people pleaded with us to open Real Coconut spaces in far reaching corners of the globe…from places such as Arizona, Las Vegas, Mexico City, Paris, Sweden and even London. Conceptually, all sounded like worthy and viable projects, except for one major challenge…how could we recreate what was birthed in a tropical environment, with coconuts, plantains and cassava…as our core ingredients, in a non-tropical climate? In Tulum, we made our coconut milk from freshly opened coconuts, delivered to us daily, and often sourced from our own palm trees, Although when we first opened, I had not found a local producer of coconut and cassava flour, and these were initially imported, in later years we discovered and supported flour production of plantain flour from Puebla, and cassava and coconut flours in Yucatan. We even began to grow our own produce on our ranch, and trialling the production of our own flours, which was always a passion that I had wanted to explore.

To replicate the same recipes, ingredients, and commitment to supporting local farmers and producers is simply not possible without the recognition that the basis of our menus would need to utilise imported products, some of which would need to be processed before shipment - for example, coconut milks/creams. Many of our production processes in Malibu were possible due to our proximity to Mexico, as our supplier of frozen coconut meat was trucking this from Colima, along with other products destined for US markets, and much of our other core supplies of cassava, plantain etc., while not hyper-local, were coming also from neighbouring Mexico.

Now that I am living back in my birth country, a wet and temperate UK, with its famous maritime climate (although as with the rest of our world, it is warming year on year), and where no coconut, plantain, or cassava will grow for the foreseeable future, I have been reflecting on all aspects of the Real Coconut principles as they translate into this current geographical basecamp - a challenge that has definitely been keeping me on my toes, as I delve deeply into my overarching philosophy of ‘Nourishing Ourselves, While Nurturing Our World’. I have immersed myself into learning what grows here, and also in Europe, connecting in with small farmers and projects, understanding international supply routes, witnessing climate challenges, and curating recipes and menus to feed myself and family from this newfound perspective.

We do still have some copies of my first, limited edition cookbook, Nourish Yourself, Nurture Our World: Recipes from the Real Coconut Kitchen’ in stock in the US and UK. If you would like to purchase a copy, please email us at: connect@sanaraway.com. I am planning a next book, as part of the same series, and will update on this as it takes form.

I will share the progression of my musings on our various channels, as more unfolds and becomes clearer, along with recipes tips, and explorations. For now, here are some images which remind me of the fond memories of these past 10 years.
- Daniella Hunter