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Time to Read: 6 min
Hi. I’m Manasa. I want to start out by saying how humbled I am by the overwhelming support and encouragement I’ve received since launching Ahimsa. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m on a mission to promote healthy children, shine light on important issues like food insecurity and encourage others to join the efforts to protect our planet. I believe Ahimsa can leave a beautiful footprint for generations to come.
Founded by a pediatrician and mom of three
Stainless steel is the only kid-friendly material recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics
We are guided by a Scientific Advisory Council comprised of environmental and medical experts, guiding us in creating the safest products, following the latest science and promoting policy to protect human health and our planet
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After my husband and I became parents, we began to educate ourselves further on healthy food practices and the impacts on our environment. Although we did make the mistake of buying some plastic dinnerware with cute characters on it when our twins were infants - I was soon met with my mother standing in the kitchen, hands on hips, lecturing me about the dangers of plastic, particularly with heat. The next day, I came home from work to find she had replaced all of my plastic with traditional stainless steel dinnerware that she had brought back from a recent trip to India.
When my fellow residency colleagues and I were chatting about the 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendation to use alternatives to plastics, such as glass or stainless steel, I sent them a picture of what we used daily from India. I will let you imagine my mother’s response when I told her the AAP agreed with her. It was the biggest “I told you so" moment in the history of motherhood.
I quickly realized the lack of options for these types of products here in the USA. Billions of Asians have used stainless steel as a standard for generations - they can’t all be wrong, I thought. However, I knew that metal at the dining table in America would require some convincing. I wanted to get plastic off the table and put something safe, but still beautiful, on it. Since necessity is the mother of invention, I thought about how I could make stainless steel attractive for kids. I started to voraciously read about the research that had been done by the AAP, the process of steel molding, the process of transforming stainless steel to take on color and anything else I could learn. I called numerous manufacturers and finally found one that could help me develop my products. So, naturally, I asked my husband to get on a plane with me to fly to India to check it all out - and so we did. Because he rocks.
Every single day I run through a series of emotions. I’m excited, determined, anxious, have bouts of self-doubt, but then I will get a text from someone or maybe a whisper from my husband reminding me why I’m on this mission. Some people may think I’m crazy trying to pull this off while working as a Pediatrician and parenting three kids. Crazy? Maybe. But, I like to categorize it as passionate.
When we received our prototypes, my six year old daughter looked at me and asked “Mommy, did you make these? Are you an inventor? Wow! That's so cool! I want to be an inventor.” That was my defining moment. While I was knee deep in the details of trying to build a business, my children were watching and learning. I had already been thinking about filing a patent application. Did you know in 2016 women made up only 12 percent of inventors granted patents? With that pure and innocent encouragement from my daughter, I began writing a patent for our nesting spoon that night.
I’ve read that an entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and build an airplane on the way down. I feel like that often. I’m just figuring it all out with the best of my abilities and putting in every ounce I have. Luckily, I have recently found some teammates, a group of women who are like-minded and determined to help Ahimsa's mission. It’s so much better to assemble that plane with someone holding the instructions, another getting tools and another shining a flashlight, so we can see what we are doing.
Lifelong learning is a core principle in medicine and I have also found this to be true in motherhood. We can’t stop learning. There is always something to educate yourself about, so as part of our mission, we want to bring you blog posts with pertinent information regarding child nutrition, environmental protection, food insecurity and other topics that we are passionate about, so we can learn together.
Stay tuned, my friends. In a gentle way, we plan to shake the world.
PS - to learn more about the Ahimsa Story
Dr. Manasa Mantravadi
Dr. Manasa Mantravadi is a board-certified pediatrician whose dedication to children’s health drove her to launch Ahimsa, the world's first colorful stainless steel dishes for kids. She was motivated by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ findings on harmful chemicals in plastic affecting children's well-being. Ahimsa has gained widespread recognition and been featured in media outlets such as Parents Magazine, the Today Show, The Oprah Magazine, and more.
Dr. Mantravadi received the esteemed “Physician Mentor of the Year” award at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2019. She was also named a Forbes Next 1000 Entrepreneur in 2021, with her inspiring story showcased on Good Morning America. She serves on the Council for Environmental Health and Climate Change and the Council for School Health at The American Academy of Pediatrics. She represents Ahimsa as a U.S. industry stakeholder on the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for the Global Plastics Treaty, led by the United Nations Environment Program. Dr. Mantravadi leads Ahimsa's social impact program, The Conscious Cafeteria Project, to reduce carbon emissions and safeguard student health as part of a national pilot of the Clinton Global Initiative.
She is dedicated to educating and empowering people to make healthier, more environmentally friendly choices at mealtime. Her mission remains to advocate for the health of all children and the one planet we will leave behind for them through real policy change within our food system.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report in July 2018 suggesting ways that families can limit exposure to certain chemicals at mealtime, including “the use of alternatives to plastic, such as glass or stainless steel, when possible.” The report explained that “…some additives are put directly in foods, while “indirect” additives may include chemicals from plastic, glues, dyes, paper, cardboard”. Further, “Children are more sensitive to chemical exposures because they eat and drink more, relative to body weight, than adults do, and are still growing and developing.” While stainless steel items meet the recommendation to avoid plastic products in children, Ahimsa® products have the obvious advantage of not breaking like glass.
According to the Steel Recycling Institute, steel can be recycled over and over and over again without losing its integrity and requires less energy to recycle than to make anew. Most plastic unfortunately ends up in landfills and it is estimated to take 700 years to decompose. Our special coloring process that allows Ahimsa® products to be fully metal is environmentally friendly, so it does not produce toxic run-off into the ecosystem.
No. Our steel is durable, so it won’t break or shatter with everyday use, like glass. And it won’t peel, like other colored stainless steel products you’ve seen. We use a special process that allows the colors to naturally occur in the metal.
Our products are meant to last, you can use Ahimsa at ages 1, 8 and 18! We thoughtfully design our products to be safe for little ones and our planet while reducing consumption. Once your child outgrows the Starting Solids Set and can use regular cups and utensils, the training cup is the perfect size rinse cup in the bathroom, the infant spoon doubles as a tea stirrer and the bowl is great for snacks or as an additional compartment to our modular divided plate. Our plates are great for any age as they encourage choosing a variety of healthy foods at each meal and help visualize portion sizes easily. It’s the lasting beauty of stainless steel - grows with your child and reduces waste.
