JOSH RANNEY
News Editor
A new and unique option opened its doors in the Village of Fredonia this week. Om Nohm Gluten Free bakery opened this past Wednesday at 45 Temple.
Om Nohm Gluten Free offers organic, gluten-free and vegan food options in all their recipes, making it a key place for dietary specific needs.
The bakery was able to get off the ground thanks to help from Fredonia Enactus. Rachel Aiello is the Project Lead, working with the owner, Jessamine Daly-Griffen, to strategize and promote the infant business.
When Enactus first took on the task of jump-starting Om Nohm Gluten Free, they were working, almost literally, from the ground up.
“The first time we came here, nothing was here,” Aiello said of the nearly 150-year-old building.
Daly-Griffen credited Enactus for having the vision to find a way to put a bakery in an old house in Fredonia.
“I’ve got the gluten-free baking mastered, what I needed was innovation and new ways of thinking about things. To look at an old building like this and say, ‘We could put a bakery in there,’” Daly-Griffen said.
“This building has history,” she said, “It’s from the 1870s. It’s been many things over the years. It’s been a dentist’s shop, a tattoo shop and a CD shop, so to be able to strip it down to its bones and find really neat pieces of history in it.”
Daly-Griffen said her partnership with Enactus has been fantastic. “I think one of the most important things that we need in our community is each other,” she said. “That’s the whole reason why I’m doing this business. Because people who have different food needs just don’t have anywhere else to go.” Enactus has enabled that.
The “why” behind Daly-Griffen’s motivation to establish an eatery with such specific recipes is because of a family member with celiac disease.
“There’s really not a safe place that you can go, if you have celiac, that you can go because there is the cross-contamination issue or people don’t take is seriously or think it’s a fad. But if you have a serious medical need, what you’re missing out on is the emotional connection of sharing food with people,” Daly-Griffen said.
Being able to bring that ability to people brings Daly-Griffen the satisfaction of being able to create a “web of connection,” through food.
Gluten-free, organic or vegan diets have grown in commonality and popularity.
“We don’t have a full understanding of why it’s happening, just that it is happening. So, I’d like our community to be part of the renaissance of being able to take care of everybody,” Daly-Griffen said.
Daly-Griffen said there are certainly people who have dealt with dining at restaurants and have felt like a burden or have had the waiter roll their eyes at them. She wants Om Nohm Gluten Free to be a place where they can come and talk or vent about it and be in a community of other people who share the same experiences.
Daly-Griffen also said her menu features foods made with healthy organic fats and unrefined sugars. “It’s how you want to eat,” she said.
Daly-Griffen said while she doesn’t live in Fredonia, she did go to school here.
“I think college towns are gathering places for people who are open-minded,” Daly-Griffen said. “They care about their health and modern food issues.”
Aiello highlighted the location of the bakery, specifically.
“It’s hubbed all around student living off-campus, so it’s really easy for people to drive by and see it,” Aiello said.
“There’s a lot of people on the college campus that need this,” Aiello said, “People are really interested in it. It brings a bigger community together, we are here and we are a part of something, and this business recognizes that.”
Om Nohm Gluten Free in Fredonia is a combination of a progressive lifestyle with progressive mindsets.
“I want it to be a place for innovative thought, I really believe that’s what college is all about,” Daly-Griffen said, “An innovative place needs to be in a place with innovative thinkers.”
Daly-Griffen hopes to expand the bakery’s purpose too. She plans to start hosting bands or poetry slams. There is already a women’s open mic night in the works because, “Women are pretty underrepresented at open mic type settings.”
“We want it to be a safe space for all people of all races, ethnicities, genders and gender affiliations,” Daly-Griffen said.
Aiello and Daly-Griffen made it clear that this is square one. After barely a week of business, Aiello said, “We have a lot of future plans.”