Initially from Corsica but based mostly in Bangor for the past 22 a long time, Nina subsequently made a decision to launch Early morning Glory Granola Firm, a little artisan business enterprise specialising in breakfast food items which are low in sugar and with out additives and also characteristic mostly regionally sourced substances.
She was encouraged to do so by family members and close friends who sampled her handcrafted granolas and desired to be in a position to purchase them from Nina and local merchants.
“I had most cancers about 10 a long time ago and this led me to look intently at my diet program,” Nina, now the head chef in the Guillemot café overlooking the harbour in Bangor, points out. “Tasting foodstuff being cooked indicates it is not constantly quick for a chef to hold a tight grip on eating plan specially in terms of salt and sugar. But I was genuinely determined to get well handle and to begin consuming food stuff for my wellbeing.”
She commenced investigating the provenance of products and solutions, and the effects additives, sugar and preservatives have on overall overall health and wellbeing.
“As a chef in a really active and well known cafe, I understood the importance of starting up the day with a wholesome breakfast. This was especially vital due to the fact it is not always quick to consume at normal times in the course of the day working in a cafe kitchen,” she carries on.
Nina, a graduate in Lodge and Catering Management from Sheffield Hallam College in 1994, began exploring breakfast options and finally to start her individual handmade granolas, concentrating on thoroughly picked and community produce.
“The influence of the food stuff we take in on our general health has now become such a massively essential situation and commencing the working day nicely is vital. I imagine that the perfect kick start out for the metabolic rate is delivered by a wholesome bowl of granola,” she describes.
The journey that brought Nina to Bangor started when she resolved in opposition to a profession in hospitality administration and as an alternative to pursue her passion for superior meals by becoming a member of a catering enterprise doing the job on tv and film projects in Britain and more afield.
“It produced perception for me to take a look at a profession in catering mainly because I’ve been passionate about foods and cooking from my childhood in Corsica,” Nina says.
“I loved the French and Italian culinary influences on the island and primarily the sharp concentration on locally developed foodstuff such as clean fruit, vegetables, fixed meats and cheese. There’s fantastic meat for hearty stews and great seafood. There’s substantially that Corsica shares with Northern Eire in the good quality of its meats seafood, veggies and dairy.”
Foods is her enthusiasm – the tastes, textures, aromas, the tales behind just about every small producer, the joy of generation, the friendships formed via food stuff.
Her mothers and fathers left Corsica for London when Nina was nonetheless a baby. She came to Belfast to supply the on-established catering for the forged involved in a creation for BBC Tv of a function penned by Bangor journalist and author Colin Bateman….and stayed.
“I liked Northern Eire, the high-quality and wide variety of the foods and manufactured a range of superior pals right here,” she reiterates.
She subsequently brought her passion for foods to The Drawing Space, her possess compact café on Gray’s Hill in Bangor.
“It wasn’t the correct locale because of a absence of footfall and parking problems in the place near to the mostly derelict Queen’s Parade which has been awaiting regeneration for close to 20 decades,” she claims.
Early morning Glory Granola, which Nina released in 2016, was born out of her love of straightforward, wholesome and healthy food specifically from nearby suppliers. “There are quite a few marvellous and high quality-concentrated foodstuff suppliers here, and I was eager to include as lots of as practicable in my selection of granolas. Incorporated in the seven-powerful variety are Irish oats from Flahavan’s, cacao nibs from leading chocolate maker Neary Nogs, Armagh apples, nearby honey, dulse from High quality Sea Veg and totally free selection eggs from Clements. In addition, the granolas are cooked in Broighter Rapeseed Oil from Limavady.
Support in building her get started-up company was delivered via the council’s Go for It programme.
She’s also appear up with some funky names for the granolas this kind of as Rock the Kasbah, Wild at Heart and The Morning Just after, the latter featuring invested grain from the Bullhouse Brewery in Belfast. The squander grain from brewing is rich in large in protein and fibre and abundant in nutrients. Rock the Kasbah attributes the flavours of Morocco these types of as dates, apricots, spices and cashews.
Nina, in addition, has made diverse flavours for Corries, now amid the most successful farm shop/delis teams, this kind of as Apple Pie. She also giving granolas to other delis and to LocalboxNI, a effective meals hamper supply business enterprise.
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