LISTEN: The Irish mum revolutionizing your weekly grocery shop

Food entrepreneur Sophie Morris never imagined that a simple video about yoghurt would launch a nationwide movement to educate shoppers on the hidden ingredients in their food. The author recently sat down with the "Natter" with Kate Durrant and Michelle McDonagh podcast to discuss her new book and the reality behind her 15 years of hard work.

When Sophie Morris stood in a local supermarket one day and made a video about the difference between Greek and Greek style yoghurt – there’s less protein in Greek style because it’s strained differently – little did she imagine it would mark the beginning of a movement of education about what’s actually in the food we eat.

While her rapid growth to more than half a million followers over fifteen months on Instagram may appear like an overnight success from the outside, Sophie points out that it was "a 15 year overnight success" as the health food advocate, food entrepreneur and cookbook author has been working hard behind the scenes for a long time.

“Since that first video, my life has completely changed from a career point of view. It is hard to wrap my head around, but I do feel a lot of pride… it's just when you get the DMs that I get in my inbox daily, it really stops me in my tracks. It makes you realize that there’s people behind these videos that are actually making changes in their lives that are really benefiting their health. And that's what makes me so determined to keep going and so so proud really of what's happened…People were shopping completely obliviously. That's why I think it went so viral, because they were just so shocked.”

Known by the moniker "Sophie Swaps", Sophie’s videos have taken off with busy working families because she not only educates people on the ingredients in the food they are buying, particularly Ultra Processed Foods, she provides healthier and often, cheaper, alternatives on the same supermarket shelves. 

“People tell me they’re so much more aware, so much more savvy in the supermarket. To actually be able to change people's behaviour is quite a difficult thing to do, people are very ingrained in their habits, but this has changed people's behaviour. The feedback I get is how much it’s helped their lives, and their family’s lives.”

Sophie was speaking to writers Kate Durrant and Michelle McDonagh on Irish books podcast Natter with Kate and Michelle, produced in association with Bookstation, Ireland’s fastest growing and best value bookseller, and Irish Central.

As a mum of two young boys and ‘a realist’, Sophie’s goal is to make life easier and more convenient for busy people. From a family of great cooks, she learned to cook watching her mum in the kitchen of her childhood home in Dublin and developed a passion for real quality food during her time at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork. She went on to set up her own Kooky Dough business and learnt at firsthand how brutal the food industry is and how tough it is for small producers to compete in the supermarkets. 

When she let go of her cookie dough business, Sophie struggled with her sense of identity in her role as a mum and it took a lot of time and therapy for her to learn how to detach from her career.

“I'm actually so glad that all happened for me before this (social media success) has taken off because I think there was so much unraveling in those few years, and figuring it out, like, why was I so low in confidence when I was at home with my babies, when that’s what I wanted to do. And I knew intellectually that this is the most important thing that I'll ever do. But yet I struggled so much with low self worth and feeling, you know, that I wasn't good enough.”

Growing up in an era where women were told they could and should do it all, she came to realise that this idea was ‘completely unreal’ and that unfortunately, you couldn’t ‘do it all at the same time’.

“You can't have very young babies and you know, this super crazy business entrepreneur thing at same time. Like it's just not achievable. I had to really disentangle.The therapy definitely worked for me to show that I had attached so much of my self-worth as this like being an achiever. I'd always achieved highly in school and college and then being an entrepreneur and detaching all that was a big task.”

Ironically, when Sophie lifted the weight of that pressure off herself and acknowledged that she was ‘enough’ as a stay-at-home mum, and in fact, this was the most important thing she could be doing, she began getting creative again about her passion for food. And while her work gives her a great sense of purpose and she loves what she does, it’s no longer the most important thing in her life. 

“I think being of service to people is one of the most rewarding experiences in life, so it really drives me. But at the same time, when I'm feeling like a bit overwhelmed or stressed, I just dive right back into my little boys. They're only seven and four. And I am quite good at realizing this is what's important.”

Listen to the full "Natter" here: 

You can purchase Sophie’s Swaps by Sophie Morris at  BookStation.ie. Listen to Sophie’s interview on Natter with Kate and Michelle now at Acast or on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. Make sure to follow us on Instagram @natterwithkateandmichelle or Facebook.