Son’s special diet gives baker a business idea
Food in the Nūd boasts natural and healthy offerings in Ritchie neighbourhood
Charming, tiny and tasty. Those are just three ways to describe Chrysta Morkeberg’s new business, a healthy bakery that has just opened up in the burgeoning food hub of Ritchie.
Called Food in the Nūd, the bakery began its life two years ago as a farmers market booth. But Morkeberg ’s inspiration for providing a range of healthy and delicious foods for people with special dietary needs, food allergies and sensitivities goes back another three years.
That’s when her son Mikkel (eight years old at the time) was identified as gluten, egg and dairy intolerant, a situation which forced Morkeberg to cook and bake in a new way. The whole family began to eat differently, and Morkeberg, who suffered from a range of health issues including severe lower back pain, found herself feeling a whole lot better, too, and losing 70 pounds along the way.
She experimented with dozens of recipes for different foods for her family, and ended up creating a delicious and healthy range of options at home. Friends and family members encouraged her to find a way to feed other people with eating issues.
Morkeberg took a course at Metro Continuing Education called Cooking Up Profits, and Food in the Nūd was born.
The new bakery, located at 9628 76 Ave., is an entirely gluten-free space, so people with celiac disease can eat there with confidence. The focus is on plant products, and neither milk nor butter is used in the bakery.
Morkeberg emphasizes healthy fats from non-animal sources, and eschews refined and processed foods. You won’t find many grains at Food in the Nūd either, and shelves are stocked with natural sweeteners, such as dates, maple syrup, and coconut palm sugar. Morkeberg doesn’t pretend her food is necessarily low calorie (at least not the treats). But it’s good for you.
“The thing with my baking is that you will be getting nutritional value,” she said. “I never calorie count. If you eat whole foods, you don’t need to. They fill you up and you don’t have cravings.”
Morkeberg jokes that the $25,000, 650-square-foot bakery was put together on a “frayed shoestring,” and credits her landlords, who own K and K Foodliner in Old Strathcona, with being wonderfully supportive and helpful. The majority of construction materials were reclaimed by her husband, a contractor, and she designed the shop’s rustic chic decor herself.
The range of products at Food in the Nūd isn’t large, but it’s carefully wrought. There are three varieties of cookies — a ginger snap, a nutty chocolate chip made with custom-created chips and a coconut, oat and hemp cookie.
Muffins include banana with chocolate butter cream made from sweet potato butter, pumpkin turmeric, and a flax muffin, crafted from stevia and blackberry and suitable for those on a keto diet. There is a vegan chocolate cake, a raw brownie (“which tastes like ‘mmmmm,’” says Morkeberg ) and the Sexy Lexi, made with freshsqueezed organic orange juice and peel, plus oats and dates.
“The products I have created are tried, tested and true,” she said, noting her treats are available at the vegan cafe, Crum Coffee Bar. “People show up just to get them.”
Already, she’s had lots of demand from customers who want her to sculpt her products this way or that, to match a growing number and range of food allergies. Morkeberg listens, but is true to her vision.
“I like the one-on-one with customers. A lot of them are dealing with a lot, and I want a place that’s chill. It’s not just food. It’s health creation, and I just want to share it.”
Come summer, Morkeberg plans to put a couple of tables outside the bakery and serve beverages with her treats. Food in the Nūd is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.