When New Yorkers Irene Liu and Jennifer Jolorte Doro launched Chiyo, their postpartum meal delivery service, they weren’t only interested in making it easy for new mothers to heat up delicious dishes like pumpkin lentil curry and larb tofu. They were using food to challenge an entrenched idea: that maternal care begins with pregnancy and comes to a screeching stop at childbirth.

Named after a popular Japanese girls’ name that translates to “eternal” or “a thousand generations”, Chiyo draws from postpartum practices common in eastern cultures. In most Asian countries, the first 40 days after birth are considered a crucial period of recovery. In this month-plus-long restorative interval, new mothers recharge through a strict regimen of rest, isolation and a nourishing diet. Another key ingredient: the support of family.

The US, by contrast, is the only rich nation without a national paid parental-leave policy. A 2018 report from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found that postpartum women in the US typically experience “a period devoid of formal or informal maternal support”. A 2019 Unicef report put the US at the bottom of its rankings of 41 countries for paid maternity leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act, passed 30 years ago, gives some US workers up to 12 weeks of leave after childbirth – although it is unpaid.

For Liu, who is Taiwanese American, and Doro, who is Filipino American, their startup gives them an opportunity to tap into their own heritage and offer women an alternative to the status quo. “The idea that the postpartum period is ‘the fourth trimester’ has only recently gotten a lot more awareness,” said Doro, 35, a clinical nutritionist and private postpartum chef.

Chiyo’s postpartum meal plan, which costs $517 a week and runs a six-week course, draws from Chinese herbal medicine and western nutritional science. New mothers start the day with an herbal tonic followed by a vegan breakfast of, say, zucchini chickpea pancakes or mung bean congee. For lunch, they’ll have a nourishing stew or noodle bowl and, later, heat up an herb-infused bone broth. Dinner options are hearty and protein-forward, like jackfruit rendang or salmon over carrot brown rice.

Chiyo has mailed boxes to 500 families across the US to date and is on track to surpass $1m in revenue this year. The company plans to release a number of other targeted menus in the coming years, including a fertility-care meal plan that launches today.

“Our big vision is that we are the go-to nutrition source for women from the start of their menstrual cycle through menopause,” said Liu, 29, who attended the Wharton School of Business and previously worked at Top Box Foods, a nonprofit that delivers healthy groceries to residents of food-insecure neighborhoods. “It’s food as the foundation to an experience of feeling supported.”

How did the idea for Chiyo come about?

Liu: My aunt had a baby in the summer of 2020 and I happened to be home that time, while finishing business school in Philadelphia. My mom was sending her these traditional Chinese medicine postpartum meals. My family is Taiwanese, so food as medicine has always been part of our family. I thought it was so fascinating, like, “Why are they eating these things? What’s the nutritional content?” I did research and found that every ancient culture has food traditions and care in this way, except in the US. Here it’s kind of like: “OK, you have a baby, see you later.”

Doro: I’m the Chiyo resident mom. I have two sons: John, who’s turning four soon, and JP, who was born in April last year. I’ve been in this space for a long time, starting out as a private postpartum chef. Folks would reach out to me, asking me to prepare a soup or a meal for before they have the baby and after. [Launching Chiyo] was almost easier in that way that we already had the recipes.

How did the two of you meet?

Liu: I’d been following Jennifer’s Instagram account for a little while, and when I had the idea for Chiyo, I just cold emailed her. Luckily, we shared the same mission for raising the standard of maternal care and vision for how we wanted to build the company.

How do traditional Chinese medicine ingredients help new moms adapt to the changes and symptoms they may experience postpartum?

Doro: Our postpartum meals contain ingredients that are specific to tissue repair and blood replenishment. Some of the ingredients you see there can be very traditional, like a watercress goji soup: watercress is a good source of iron and folate, and goji is a strong antioxidant. Our Chinese medicine adviser, Dr Lily Yeh Gillespie, helps formulate our broths and tonics, which are on a regimen that coincides with each week of your postpartum period. The first week after birth, you’ll get a classic Chinese herbal broth that is said to help with blood cleansing and [care for] the uterus. You want to take that in the first week, specifically, to make sure the old uterine lining has been dispelled completely.

In China, many postpartum moms follow an ancient tradition called “confinement”, which involves staying indoors for a month to recover from childbirth. How do families in other parts of Asia care for women during and after pregnancy?

Liu: There are similarities across Japan, Korea and India. In those countries, you go to a postpartum hotel or you live with your parents and you have all your meals taken care of. Your meals follow a specific regimen for your recovery. You have warming foods like broths; you follow a diet that’s low in salt and sugar. Everything is intentional and nourishing. Here in the US, my friends and I at least are very career-driven, and very fearful of pregnancy [because it can be disruptive to our career trajectories]. In Asia, the way women would talk about pregnancy is completely different– – you feel cared for.

What’s the typical timeline of a Chiyo program?

Doro: Traditionally [in the US] people have thought that after six weeks, when you get your postpartum check-up, you’re good to go. Maybe at six weeks, your stitches are healed after a C-section, but you might not mentally and physically feel 100%. I’ve been actively in this period for five years. My first son was born in March 2019, but I conceived in 2018 and was trying since 2017. I’m now nine months postpartum but still breastfeeding. Some of our customers joined us in the postpartum period with their firstborn, and are now pregnant with their second and reaching out to us again for support.

What does your customer base look like?

Liu: Using last names as an indicator, I’d say fewer than 25% are Asian. That’s not totally surprising. But Asian postpartum care is growing. A popular book people get as a postpartum gift is The First Forty Days, which can be a gateway for people to learn that there’s a whole approach to caring for women after childbirth. A lot of women go to acupuncture now for fertility treatment. Our food philosophy, which focuses on eastern medicine, appeals to acupuncturists, many of whom have reached out to us and said they wanted to recommend our program to their patients.

What’s your long-term vision for Chiyo?

Liu: That we are the go-to nutrition source for women from the start of their menstrual cycle through menopause. We want to help change the narrative around this time, to help women be more discovery-driven and joyful instead of restrictive and fearful about what you’re putting in your body. Something we’d love to do is get HSA [health savings account] and FSA [flexible spending account] approval for this type of care.

Doro: We also want to advocate for policies like parental leave and other types of support that people deserve– – they’re very limited right now in the US. When my friend had a baby in Norway, she was paired up with another local mom, and she had community groups already set up for her. Whereas here, it’s up to you to make sure you have your own village.