What began as Yemina Mata's passion for healthier living through a natural-food- and supplement-based diet resulted in La Buena Salud, a grocery store stocking only natural and organic products. Opened in 1997 in the Soulard farmers' market, La Buena Salud today lures visitors to its current storefront—tucked away just off Washington Avenue—with an impressive array of locally grown meats, eggs, and produce, vitamins, and supplements. Yemina gregariously shares health food and natural-healing wisdom as patrons meander aisles of organic teas from Tulsi and Traditional Medicinals, specialty items, such as piloncillo cane sugar, and natural-health and diet books, all of which earned the store praise from Feast magazine and a polite thank-you note from Mother Nature.