14 | EDIBLE PORTLAND WINTER 2025 Indulgent treats and “healthy food” rarely go hand in hand. But when Honey Mama's founder Christy Goldsby tackled that conundrum in 2013, she concocted a line of truffle bars created with nutrition and health in mind. It all started when Goldsby’s best friend was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis (a chronic autoimmune disorder in which antibodies destroy the communication between nerves and muscles). Goldsby grew up in Portland in a food-focused family. Her grandfather owned a donut bakery when she was young. “In general, my family are all big bakers and cooks,” she says. “I grew up in a family where the kitchen was 100% central to our world.” For a number of years, she owned Blue Gardenia bakery with her mother, sister, and husband. She stepped away from that business when her friend began her health journey. After joining her friend in a month-long gut health–focused cleanse, Goldsby found that her friend improved, and so did she. Goldsby's "ah-ha" moment was about how food can influence health and general well-being. "I kept asking myself, how can I create a line of products that gets onto grocery store shelves where it can be part of the conversation about what people are bringing home to feed their families every week?" Goldsby recalls. From Concept to Creation After a few non-starters, it clicked with Goldsby to go back to her roots: baking and delicious comfort food. "I started taking the concept of what we were making at the bakery, which was cakes, brownies, cookies, and pies, and turning it into something functional," she says. That meant using sprouted almonds, unrefined coconut oil, pure cocoa powder and honey instead of refined sugar. After half a year of trial and error, the truffle bars emerged as a delicious, easy-to-eat treat that helps people appreciate food as medicine. sweet success The Story of Honey Mama's Healthy Indulgence By Vanessa Salvia and images courtesy of Honey Mama's
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