Every morning, Ashanti Guy starts his day with a ritual: meditation at 5 a.m., a cup of kidney tea and 100 push-ups. By 9 a.m., he’s behind the counter at Ambrosia Health Foods, the herbal store his Trinidadian father founded over 40 years ago in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. Here, bundles of burdock root and jars of blue vervain line the shelves and customers are greeted like family.
“We’re not just a store, we’re a community,” Guy said. “People come here for healing, but also for connection.”
Ambrosia has been a pillar of Caribbean wellness in Brooklyn since the 1980s, offering herbal remedies, vitamins and holistic health advice rooted in traditions from Trinidad and Tobago and beyond. Now led by Guy, 52, the store bridges generations, serving longtime clients while adapting to gentrification and a growing interest in natural medicine among younger New Yorkers.
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A family tradition
Ashanti Guy’s journey with herbs began in childhood when his father, Roland Guy, a Master Herbalist and former Emergency Medical Services worker, first introduced him to the healing power of plants. At 12 years old, he was packing barrels with red clover, yellow dock and other herbs in their Brooklyn garage, preparing shipments for his father’s first herbal stores in Trinidad.
“My father would call me from Trinidad and walk me through the process,” Guy recalled. “I’d weigh the herbs, write invoices and seal the barrels. It never felt like work. It was helping my family.”
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Before opening Ambrosia, Roland Guy also dabbled in jewelry-making, crafting silver rings and bracelets in a small workshop at home. But his true calling was herbology. After formal training, he opened stores in Trinidad and later in Brooklyn, splitting his time between the two while Ashanti and his sisters grew up in a household steeped in Caribbean traditions.
“We lived in Caribbean culture daily,” Ashanti said. “Castor oil cleanses, bush teas, soca music, even though I was born here [in the U.S.], Trinidad was home.”
A community institution
When Ambrosia first opened on Church Avenue in the 1980s, the neighborhood was a thriving hub for Caribbean immigrants. Black-owned businesses lined the streets and Roland Guy’s store quickly became a trusted resource for those seeking alternatives to Western medicine.
“Back then, we had to educate people,” Ashanti said. “We’d hold seminars in churches and community centers, teaching folks about herbs and diet. Many had grown up with these remedies back home but forgot them after moving here.”
The store’s reputation grew through word of mouth. Customers like Evelyn Alan, a Trinidadn native in her 60s, swear by Ambrosia’s blends. She has relied on the store’s diabetic blend for five years. “The doctor said my numbers improved, but I wasn’t taking their pills, just Guy’s herbs,” she said.
For others, like Seven Thomas, a 29-year-old from Chicago who has been coming to Ambrosia for three years, the store is a pilgrimage site to stock up on liver-cleansing teas. Thomas, whose Jamaican father introduced her to the store, flies in regularly to stock up on liver-cleansing herbs.
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“Everything here is natural, no chemicals,” she said. “Why take medicine derived from herbs when you can go straight to the source?”
A science behind the tradition
Guy said he studied under renowned herbalists like Dr. Llaila Afrika, a holistic health specialist known for his work linking nutrition, herbs, and chronic disease in Black communities, and can identify tens of herbs just by sight, smell and texture. His herbalism journey started in reading a copy of Back to Eden, the herbalism bible his father gave him at 12.
“Herbs don’t work overnight,” he said. “They repair the body gradually. If you have high blood pressure, for example, we don’t just give one herb. We create a blend that addresses circulation, plaque buildup and stress.”
Ambrosia’s custom blends are tailored to individual needs. Guy also emphasizes diet, urging clients to cut dairy, refined sugars and processed meats. “Health starts in the gut,” he said, a philosophy rooted in Caribbean traditions of regular cleanses with castor oil and laxatives. His approach resonates in a neighborhood where chronic illnesses are prevalent.
The store once offered colonic irrigation, a deep colon cleanse using water to remove waste, which Roland Guy performed in a basement clinic. Though paused during COVID, Ashanti plans to revive it, along with the store’s juice bar, which served wheatgrass shots and veggie burgers pre-pandemic.
Cultural anchor in a changing Brooklyn
Ambrosia’s survival contrasts with the decline of other Black-owned businesses in Little Caribbean. Guy remembers a time when Church Avenue was lined with Caribbean-owned businesses, now sports luxury condos and chain stores. Many renowned Black-owned businesses like Negril BK, Casablanca, Greedi Vegan, Lovers Rock, Basquiat’s Bottle have shuttered in recent years.
“Rents pushed out so many of us,” Guy said. “We’re lucky we own our building. But the community we built is disappearing.”
Yet the store adapts. Alongside traditional items like “blue” (a laundry whitener) and cocoa balls, Ambrosia now stocks its own vitamin line and ships worldwide. Gentrification has also brought new customers, young professionals and non-Caribbean locals curious about holistic health.
“We welcome everyone,” Guy said, though he remains focused on his core community. “Our mission is healing, no matter who walks in.”
Looking ahead
Guy’s son Elijah, 31, restocked shelves while fielding calls from customers as far as Germany. Like his father, Elijah grew up in the business, learning herb names alongside his ABCs.
“This is generational,” Ashanti said. “My father taught me; now I’m teaching Elijah and maybe one day, his kids.”
He dreams of opening additional locations but vows Ambrosia will always be “a family business, not a franchise.”
But the heart of the business, he insists, will always be in Brooklyn.
Ambrosia Foods can be found at 3306 Church Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11203
