Daniella’s Collective: https://www.daniellahunter.com/the-collective
Visit Daniella at these websites:
https://www.daniellahunter.com/
https://www.realcoconutkitchen.com/
About Daniella Hunter
Daniella’s deep care of herself, and the choices she made to support her own health, allowed her to turn the traditional restaurant model upside down. Daniella’s commitment to a menu free of gluten, grain, dairy, and refined sugar, coupled with a no compromise commitment to only cook with avocado oil, and defining a plant-focused menu featuring small amounts of impeccably sourced animal protein, is the core of what the Real Coconut Kitchen represents today. The Real Coconut brand has now expanded from its flagship location at her Sanara hotel in Tulum, Mexico, with a full restaurant in Malibu, California, and the opportunity to deliver many of the Real Coconut’s menu staples, to the Los Angeles community, and beyond, through the Real Coconut Market. Her first cookbook, “Nourish Yourself Nurture Our World” was released in the summer of 2021.
Daniella’s Story
When I first opened Real Coconut Kitchen, a tiny beachfront restaurant that operates out of our boutique wellness hotel in Tulum, I could never have imagined how it would grow. What began out of necessity—thinking that we just needed to feed the guests in our 19-room hotel—has, in just five short years, blossomed into a destination restaurant in Tulum (with other locations now opening around the world) and a global food brand—our grain-free coconut flour tortillas and tortilla chips are sold in thousands of stores and online retailers across the USA, Canada and the UK. I’m not a chef by training and, in some ways, had no business starting a restaurant, but I have to believe that our success is due, at least in part, to exactly that. The food we serve at the Real Coconut is deeply personal. It’s the result of my own long and winding journey on the path of health and wellness; the food that makes me feel good, gives me energy, and allows me to operate at optimum level. But it’s also much more than that.
The intrinsic philosophy that weaves through all I do, and drives me every day, is a simple question: “How can we care for ourselves at the highest level while also supporting our world?” The Real Coconut has allowed me the opportunity to not only investigate this question at a much larger scale, but also share a small slice of this philosophy with many tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and corners of the planet. This message and food have clearly struck a chord with people, and for that, I am humbled and grateful. So it is finally time to tell the story of how it all came about, provide an in-depth look at why I do what I do, and finally, to share our recipes, something I know many people have been waiting several years for! As with all stories, this one starts at the very beginning
My childhood was defined by my physical weaknesses. Severe asthma led to almost monthly stints in hospital, dealing with chest infections, pneumonia, a collapsed lung, joint dislocations, and other maladies. Playing out my physical deficits on the backdrop of the damp and wet British climate didn’t help and yet throughout these challenging experiences, a deep inner strength kept me pushing forward. Though physically weak, I had a feisty nature and endless creative visions. My mother always said that I kept myself busy doing something, even when I could barely breathe! As I moved into my later teenage years, I experienced some respite from the breathing challenges, and whenever I could, I escaped the dreary UK climate to pursue new experiences and adventures. My love of travel and warm weather led me on a trip to Kenya, where I stumbled upon a tiny scuba-diving center on a remote beach. Despite the fact that lung issues are a major contraindication for diving, my blissful ignorance and deep desire to experience the underwater world led me to self-diagnose my recovery from asthma. Somehow, breathing underwater was the most natural thing in the world for me. I had found myself and my identity through this realm, and this deep love of the sea has gone on to play a pivotal role in the direction of my life. Soon after graduating from university with a degree in Economics, I set off on a journey of self-discovery to the Red Sea in Sinai, proclaiming to my parents that I was going to pursue a career as a scuba-diving instructor. Dahab, where I based myself, is a remote desert town, with mountains on one side, and some of the world’s deepest ocean drop-offs on the other. Somehow this environment—perhaps the sudden boost of vitamin D, along with multiple daily dives—helped heal my lungs and support my body to a point where my new-found strength shocked me. My days as a scuba instructor were blissfully spent on the back of pick-up trucks, driving to shore entry dive sites, walking across rocky reefs with full scuba gear, and swimming against strong currents, often needing to give a helping hand to pull students along with me. I spent a further stint in the scuba community in Mexico, not far from Tulum, where I turned my hand to underwater photography, but after some years of literally floating around the world, it was time to return to England to pursue a career in photography and writing. It is important to note that I would never recommend that anyone with lung issues attempt scuba diving without sign-off from their doctor first. My journey began with ignorance and ended well, though the responsibility was always on me. I also believe that the breath-hold freediving, which became part of my daily life, was an additional support in strengthening my lungs. Back in the UK, my health issues reappeared, and I realized that, without the sun to heal me, I had to take responsibility for my own physical health. I was reminded of a seminar I attended in Dallas as a teenager called “Health Through Nutrition”—where I’d learned all about the effects of diet on our overall well-being—and decided it was time to make some changes. I had been a very unhealthy vegetarian/vegan for most of my adult life, which meant that my diet was filled with carbohydrates, and without realizing it, a ton of gluten and grains. I can’t remember what prompted me to cut out gluten as the first step, but this was when I felt the first shift in my digestion. For as long as I could remember, I had felt clogged up and constipated, and removing gluten seemed to allow things to move along more smoothly, so to speak.
I began experimenting with gluten-free baking and, having never been able to tolerate dairy well, also embraced a lifestyle of making all that I could at home: nut milks, smoothies, kefirs and more. I would seek out slightly forlorn-looking coconuts on shelves of local Asian markets and crack them open in the garden, often with rain drizzling overhead, imagining myself on a tropical beach. Some of the recipes I created in the UK went on to feature on the menu of the Real Coconut and are still there today! Though improving my diet helped me somewhat, I was still suffering from a myriad of health issues, and as I had always been drawn to tropical climates, a chance opportunity to stop by Tulum en route to Los Angeles led to a rapid, but carefully considered decision, to pick up and move to Mexico with my husband, Charlie, and my two young sons, Luca and Kai. Beyond the desire to move back to a tropical climate to support my health, Mexico had always held a special place in my heart. I had such fond memories from my prior time living there, the warmth and openness of the Mexican people and culture, plus Mexican cuisine is my hands-down, all-time favorite! Our first few months were spent acclimatizing to the new lifestyle, and with long balmy days and more free time, I was able to hone my skills in the kitchen further. During this time, I was learning more about gut health, and began to eliminate grains from my diet. This is when I noticed the greatest overall improvement in my well-being. Gluten was one thing, but taking out grains took a huge load off my digestion, and I was finally free of the joint pains and headaches that had plagued me daily, even after our move to Mexico. Confirming my own intuition, I have since been diagnosed with a rare inherited connective tissue disorder, which appears to be aggravated by gluten.
I began experimenting with grain-free baking, using the leftover grounds from my homemade coconut and almond milk. After several successes with coconut flour, in particular, I thought it might work well as a replacement for corn masa—my dear Mayan housekeeper Flor had taught me to make tortillas by hand, and I was determined to figure out how to make a grain-free version. I wanted my recipe to be as close to a traditional tortilla as possible, so including eggs was not an option. But without grains, or anything glutinous to bind them together, my first several attempts were dire failures. I kept at it, though, and through trial and error (of both technique and ingredients), the perfect grain- free coconut flour tortilla was finally born!
Emboldened by my tortilla success, I decided to try my hand at a coconut-based, dairy-free cheese, too. I was never a fan of the go-to cashew-based vegan cheeses, which always made me feel ill, and loved the idea of a dairy-free, grain-free, vegan quesadilla package. It took several failed attempts, but once I found the perfect combination of coconut milk and agar agar (plus a few extras for seasoning), I had the base recipe we still use for all of our vegan cheeses at the restaurant. My good friends in Tulum would act as taste-testers for me and, to my surprise, raved about all of my whacky grain- and dairy-free experiments! I even hosted a coconut-themed dinner party where I served coconut flour tostadas & guacamole, coconut flour tortillas & coconut cheese for quesadillas, coconut flour pizza topped with coconut “mozzarella,” and coconut flour chocolate cake for dessert. It must have gone down well, as they wouldn’t stop asking me when the next dinner party would be. I had a feeling I was onto something, but could never have predicted that these fun experiments in my kitchen would soon evolve into a rapidly growing restaurant and food business!
