Zero-Waste Grocery: Naked Inc.

Before the pandemic hit and the quarantine started, Agung and I visited The Bulkstore & Co. at Kemang Village. It seems only fitting to hit up another packaging-free grocery store in the area, particularly in Kemang, called Naked Inc.—this one is located inside of Como Park. Out of all the bulk stores I've visited before, including Saruga in Bintaro, I think this one is the most diverse in the types of products it stocks. At the time, I came here in the height of my curiosity to explore gastronomically, especially locally grown ones, and be more conscious of the food that I put into my mouth. Food is one of the way we can contribute to fighting climate change and be more eco-friendly in our lifestyle—and it can be both easy and hard, depending on how you look at it. So here's the start of my attempts.

Located in Como Park, which is a small collection of restaurants and stores with a tiny dog park at the back, this place houses a plethora of zero-waste items in store. It is beautifully segmented with specific section for each category—there's the self-care/hygiene section, the zero-waste kits, the variety of pasta, grains and cereals, the number of tea assortments, several ready-made breakfasts and meals and fridges full of chilled beverages and frozen goods. They carry several local, organic self-care brands that you might have heard of before—although, unfortunately, pre-packaged—but they also have some of their own that come with no packaging, including soap and cleaning products. I wasn't really paying attention, but I don't think they had ready-made toothpaste—which is one of my favourite zero-waste products. That might be the one minus thing for me.

There are several unique items that they had in store, which I hadn't seen in other stores before. For starters, there's the ready-made breakfast bowls mentioned earlier. These are stored in small mason jars, seemingly to have been exclusively prepared in store. Secondly, there's also vegan meat—imported and packaged in plastic, unfortunately, but cruelty-free. I also saw some disposable, compostable leaf straws—which I've only ever seen on Instagram and could be a great zero-waste option for parties. Oh, and most importantly, there were a great selection of dog treats, fitting for the dog owners who often come to the park just outside of the store.

Here is where I found numerous food and drink ingredients that I hadn't found elsewhere, such as couscous, a multitude of tea leaves and various types of noodles and pasta. It's also where I first found out about sorghum, leading me to read more on the grain and now completely hooked. The other day, I decided to buy couscous and sorghum powder—as they are out of the whole grain version. Since then, I have tried the couscous—which only took 10 minutes to cook—and it has become one of my favourite foods. The sorghum flour has yet to be used, but I'm planning on making pancakes with them sometime—please look forward to this recipe, if it ever happens. Aside from those, I've bought two bars soap—one lemongrass and one turmeric—and Agung bought cocoa tea and dried cranberries. We loved the cranberries for snacks, but the tea smells so much sweeter than it tastes. The soap has yet to be tested.

What I'd love to do here is to actually try each and every one of their food-related products. I've also started to pay more attention to locally grown or produced food. To be honest, I didn't pay too much attention to the food they have in store that hasn't piqued my interest—I was on a mission to get sorghum at the time—but I think they actually provide more imported or non-native goods, much to my chagrin. But there are also a few interesting items, such as corn-analog rice and sweet potato vermicelli—if I'm not mistaken. I'd love to widen my palate and try out all kinds of foods, especially if it's locally grown. We'll talk more about that some other time, okay?

Do you like to explore when it comes to food?