Acai, cupuacu, soursop: superfoods from the Amazon sold in Hong Kong that are supporting rainforest villages
- Wendell Paulus was brought up in a village in the Amazon, and looked to have a promising career in the oil industry after years of study
- But he turned his back on it to help bring healthy and sustainable Amazonian superfoods to Hong Kong, in turn helping locals back home
Acai tastes earthy and not unlike blueberries, but the exotic dark purple fruit contains three times more antioxidants than a blueberry. Found in the Amazon rainforest in South America, the fruit is best known in its powdered form, sprinkled in acai bowls for breakfast or added to smoothies.
Wendell Paulus grew up eating acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) in pulp form, along with other Amazonian superfoods – such as graviola, caja, cupuacu and acerola – that today’s health-conscious consumers may be less familiar with than his tribe in the forests of Suriname, a small country on the northeastern coast of South America.
Paulus, 37, has travelled far from his native village and now lives in the Asian metropolis of Hong Kong. He imports the exotic superfoods for sale in the city and neighbouring Macau, helping to support his village back home.
His life could have turned out very differently, however. Before entering the health food business, Paulus was on the road to a promising career in mining and exploration, until he made a 180-degree turn to focus instead on sustainability.
“As kids playing, we mainly went to the river, swimming, fishing and playing football. I also helped my grandfather with the crops in the plantation. It was really fun,” he recalls with a smile.
Paulus and his older brother were born in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, but after his parents split up when he was a baby, his mother took the children to live with her community, the Maroon Saamaka, in the Amazon rainforest.
“Life in the tribe is – there are no cars. It’s really, really far from anywhere. To go from the capital to the villages, you have to go by car and then go by boat up the Suriname River and past waterfalls,” Paulus explains, adding that there are those who hardly ever venture into the city.