About us

Several civilizations succeeded one another in Tunisia, each leaving a vast agricultural and culinary heritage emphasizing the use of olive oil, fruits, vegetables and pulses. Tunisian gastronomy is based on an ancestral know-how where Berber, Phonecian, Arab, Roman, Andalusian, Ottoman and Jewish traditions blend and influence one another to the delight of connoisseurs. Honestly, how do you think a cuisine with so many rich influences can taste?

Our products originate from Henna, an agricultural region located at about twenty kilometres from the city of Manouba. The name Manouba goes back to Antiquity and would originate from the Punic word meaning "agricultural market". Henna is a region of the lower Medjerda valley, widely renowned for the high quality and unique flavor of its vegetable and fruit crops. At the height of the Roman Empire, food from this blessed soil was regularly transported to the Roman nobility. It is not by chance that in ancient times this slice of land of great wealth was called the Attic of Rome.

It starts with the selection of the best plant varieties. We make sure we grow the best of what nature gave us. Our choices are not based on cultivar productivity or profitability, but rather on texture, nutritional values and, above all, taste qualities.

A few kilometers from both Mediterranean sea and Sahara desert, our land is geographically located in a unique area in the world for market gardening. Moreover, with the many hours of sunshine and the mild Mediterranean climate - Tunisia is bordered to the North and East by the Mediterranean Sea-, our vegetables enjoy the best possible natural conditions to produce exceptional crops.

An ancestral know-how handed down in our family of farmer-processors from generation to generation, the mastery of the entire production process from the seed to the jar, a culinary heritage several thousand years old and an ultra-vigorous respect for the highest quality standards and food safety guarantee the excellence of our products. All our vegetables are naturally grown, harvested, sorted, processed and potted by hand. It takes a perfect tomato, olive, artichoke or eggplant to live up to the Kemia name!

My name is Mourad, and I am the founding president of Terra Nostrum, a company based in Montreal, Canada. I am a foodie at heart and a hunter of exceptional food products. I love high quality, authentic foods with character, and I have made it my mission to share and make my culinary favourites accessible to North American gourmets.
Ali is a third-generation Tunisian farmer-processor, driven by his passion for the land and the products that come from it. He's also a gourmet, but above all a master in the art of transforming the products of his land into real little treasures of taste. He takes the quality of the products to heart, never ceasing to set the bar ever higher in terms of quality, safety, innovation and above all, flavour.
In 2015, we meet at a trade show in Toronto and... it’s a perfect match! Ideas, tastes, visions, values, dreams... It all fit together! It was like two best friends from childhood who met again after many years. And so, from this magical friendship, from our passion for exceptional food and from our respective experiences, was born Kémia, the new line of gastronomic jewels in orange-lid jars.