Part 1: The Lightbulb Moment

“I can and I will. Watch me.”

In 2015, I was working at Women’s Health Magazine when I tried almond butter for the first time. Ironically, I have never liked nuts. Not in a brownie and definitely not raw - Nutella and peanut butter were the only exceptions. At this time, #CleanEating was trending; in search of the glowing euphoria that comes with cooking from scratch, mostly plant based ingredients, naturally I became obsessed. Filling my kitchen with seeds and spices, tins of coconut milk and organic chickpeas; experimenting with oat milk porridge and green pea smoothies, recipes that were later uploaded onto my food blog, Syrup & Spice, became the highlight of my day. Fortunately - or unfortunately - my wannabe-blogger days started and ended here, one 10-minute recipe was actually titled, “Fancy a Quickie?”.

Being new to London, my spare time was spent at various wellness events; sweating at The new cycle studio, or pulsing my bum furiously at an As Seen in Vogue barre class; I attended food markets, supper clubs and product launches. Drooling over lentil dahl served with whipped coconut yoghurt, and raw Snicker bars for dessert. Adamant in becoming part of the scene, the ‘crew’; on one occasion I baked sweet potato brownies for the founder of Livia’s as a token of friendship, sacrificing my Tupperware for a good cause. And every day during my lunch break, I stalked the aisles of Whole Foods Market; like a kid in a sweet shop I was mesmerised. Everyday I found new offerings to marvel at, dazzled by kale crisps baked in nutritional yeast, and puffed quinoa dark chocolate; they both intrigued and impelled me to look at them, touch them; I wanted to try everything! And yet everyday I came to the same conclusion; in anticipation of the afternoon slump, I continuously searched and struggled to find indulgent snacks that both satisfied my craving for something sweet and were 100% unsweetened. Date syrup, coconut sugar, agave nectar - however trendy unrefined sugar is, apparently nothing exists without it.

Taking matters into my own hands, quite literally - and having recently impulse bought a food processor, adding to my growing kitchen utensils, including a spiralizer and blender - I started making my own ‘healthy’ Nutella. Blends of just nuts and a pinch of spice. Literally nothing else. Stripping back the recipes I found online to include none of the Medjool dates they suggested, which made it far too sweet for my liking. Instead combining cinnamon, vanilla and raw cacao powder; roasting the almonds and hazelnuts just enough to be neither raw or bitter. Much to my surprise, the resulting texture and taste was unlike anything I had ever tried, like molten lava, warm when freshly made; I could not believe how good it tasted - and there was nothing ‘unhealthy’ about it. I could not put the spoon down! If only to scrape the remnants from my processor, I had to make more; I particularly fell in love with how positive it made me feel, capable of boosting my mood and energy without the added sugar of other brands on the market. The cleanest, purest high of my life.

Realising the effect it had on me, how quickly a jar became part of the furniture - and eating it a part of my daily routine - one day I proclaimed to mum, “I think I could sell this!” That was the lightbulb moment, all it took to get the cogs turning; the inspiration to set up a business and share this experience with the rest of the world. A decision so underrated, not that I knew how naive I was being at the time. Only I could see this incredible journey unfolding in front of my eyes; less out of choice, I felt like I needed to do this. Filling a gap in the market I didn’t even know existed.