It all started around the breakfast table. Fed up with the mueslis on offer in the shops, Nick and Camilla Barnard decided to make their own, eschewing the high levels of sugar, preservatives and artificial flavourings in favour of all-natural, healthier ingredients. What they created didn’t just taste amazing – it happened to be good for you, too. Wanting to share what they’d done with the rest of the UK, they set up Rude Health and began selling their Ultimate Muesli to a few local health food shops and delis.
Fifteen years later, they’re at the helm of one of the UK’s food and drink success stories, selling a range of cereals, snacks, crackers and dairy-alternative drinks. They might have outgrown the kitchen table, but Rude Health’s ethos remains the same: make great products by using only the best ingredients and avoid anything artificial and refined.
Following the muesli, Rude Health started to produce porridge, cereals, granola, rice crackers and vegetable-based snack bars. But in 2013, when the company launched its own dairy-alternative drinks, it kicked the business into overdrive.
Look in any supermarket today and you’ll find fridges full of dairy-free milk alternatives, but as little as five years ago the pickings were much slimmer. Rude Health predicted the rise of increasingly conscious consumers and plant-based diets at exactly the right time, hitting shop shelves just as more and more of us were looking to cut down on animal products and discover that dairy-alternative drinks – when done right – were fantastic alternatives to traditional cow’s milk.
What sets Rude Health’s drinks apart, however, is the approach to what goes in each carton. Rather than relying on thickeners, gums, added sugar and other questionable additives, the Rude Health ethos means each drink is entirely organic and contains simple, familiar ingredients which make them all naturally froth-able for coffee. Many of the drinks manage to retain a silky, thick texture thanks to the organic rice blended into the mixture, which also adds a a natural sweetness, eliminating the need for added sugars. And with thirteen different flavours available (including two cartons specifically made for coffee and chocolate-flavoured drinks), there’s plenty to choose from.