About

Hi, I’m Irma, founder of Mamamuti, lifelong plant nerd, former practising homeopath, cacao obsessive and incurably curious human.

In many ways, I grew up inside the world I work in today.

In the mid-1980s, my late mum opened one of South Africa’s first concept wholefood stores, alongside a homeopathic and herbal dispensary. 

This was long before “wellness” became an industry, and I was incredibly fortunate to grow up surrounded by wholefoods, herbs, homeopathic medicines, supplements, plants and conversations about health.

It wasn’t something I discovered later in life. It was simply the world I knew, and it shaped me enormously.

I was also a pretty intense kid.

While other kids were getting on with being kids, I was worrying about rhinos and gorillas going extinct, animal testing and what the hell the meaning of life was. I became an anti-vivisection activist at 9, and, as a teenager, wrote a health column for a South African magazine about issues affecting young people.

I actually wanted to become an investigative journalist.

Looking back, I’m not sure I ever completely abandoned the idea.

I went on to study homeopathy, anatomy and physiology, fresh plant extracts, the nature of disease, nutrition and health coaching, and practised as a homeopath from 2000 until I closed my practice in 2019. I don’t practise professionally anymore, although that knowledge has never left me, and friends still occasionally find their way to me when they need a little help.

Over the years I’ve watched the wellness industry change enormously. I’ve seen remedies, superfoods, supplements, philosophies, fads and trends come and go. It has made me curious, but also discerning. I want to know what something actually is, where it came from, how it works, who knows it best and whether the story we’re being told about it is true.

That curiosity has taken me around the world.

I worked in natural-medicine in South Africa, where part of my role was teaching and training. I spent time in Switzerland studying fresh plant extracts at the A Vogel Institute, travelled to Australia to shoot a documentary about Melaleuca alternifolia — tea tree — and journeyed to Peru to deepen my understanding of its ancient foods, plants and medicines. I’ve studied everything from spirulina, to yeast, and I remain endlessly fascinated by the human body, nutrition, plants and the nature of disease.

When I love something, I want to know everything about it. The history. The science. The biology. The people. The nutritional profile. How it’s grown. How it’s used. How it tastes. And, importantly, what the people who have lived alongside it for generations know about it.

Honestly, I could happily spend the rest of my life travelling the world investigating ancient foods and plants and telling their stories.

Almost 20 years ago, I moved to New Zealand and started an entirely new life. I initially continued practising homeopathy here, but in 2019 I closed my practice and opened Mamamuti.

Why cacao?

Because I had fallen completely and unwaveringly in love with it in the late 90's thanks to David Wolfe, a prominent author, speaker and longtime advocate for superfoods, and it felt like it was time to reinvent myself. So I decided to channel my passion for cacao and created Mamamuti. Crazy. Challenging. Deeply satisfying. 

Mamamuti gave me somewhere to bring all these seemingly separate parts of myself together: ancient superfoods, wellness, travel, research, storytelling, people and my slightly ridiculous need to investigate anything I love.

Today, I live in a small seaside community in Aotearoa New Zealand, pouring cacao into the world in my own way. I never married or had children. I chose to build my life a little differently, and as I approach 50, I’m really happy I did.

I think my younger self would be pretty stoked to see where we ended up.

Making a difference has mattered to me for as long as I can remember, as has being kind to animals, plants, people and this extraordinary planet we get to live on. Mamamuti is simply the grown-up expression of something that has been there since I was that slightly intense little girl asking enormous questions.

I’m still asking questions.

I’m still learning.

I’m still travelling towards the source.

And when I’m not doing any of that, there’s a very good chance I’m at home making cacao, turning the music up and dancing around the house with my dog.

Pleasure is the purpose.

 

Glad you're here x

Irma