Riah Durick founded Nourished Folks to help provide nutritious, delicious meals for those who may need a little extra help. Nourished Folks is moving into the new GreyLine Station, where it will also operate a café.
People often show they care through food — bringing meals to new parents, to sick friends and family, and to those who are grieving. But sometimes people don’t consider themselves adept in the kitchen or, regretfully, don’t have the time to make as many of these considerate acts as they’d like.
Riah Durick seeks to help bridge the gaps between good intentions, good nutrition and life’s obstacles with Nourished Folks (nourishedfolks.com), her meal preparation and contactless delivery business. In November, Nourished Folks will also open a café in GreyLine Station, the new mixed retail space and public market located on Lexington’s north side.
A Carrolton native and Lexington resident, Durick has always enjoyed hosting backyard dinner parties and seeing people gathered around her table, she said. She’s also worked as a birth doula for three years and knows how important, and sometimes difficult, having nourishing meals on hand postpartum can be.
She launched Nourished Folks about a year ago, utilizing commercial kitchens offered to her by chef friends to prepare and package the ready-to-eat meals. The meals — whether a single portion, a week’s worth, enough to feed the whole family or other options — are delivered directly to the recipient’s doorstep.
“I like to encourage people to feed their people,” Durick said.
Durick said she gets many customers from word of mouth and also promotes her business on social media. Whether a customer is ordering meals for themselves or for someone else, Durick says her priority is providing wholesome food that “feels like it came from home and is made with a whole lot of love.”
Her postpartum meals, for example, typically comprise warm, comforting and easily digestible foods such as soups, rice or grain bowls, and plenty of vegetables, she said. Other menu items include roasted chicken and vegetables, and healthy pizzas with scratch-made sauces that contain an extra nutritional boost from puréed vegetables.
Lexington resident Brittany Ross ordered Nourished Folks meals regularly for several months after she gave birth this past January. She’s since sent meals to friends who have lost loved ones or who have a spouse traveling out of town.
“She has the best broths — bone broths — that are so nourishing for a postpartum mom, or anybody, really,” Ross said. “She makes a great spaghetti — I think it’s gluten-free noodles, also.”
Ross said the portions are generous, and she often had leftovers.
“I will sing Riah’s praises until the end of my life because I think food is such an important part of healing and nourishment,” she said. “And I think [nourishing meals are] one of the things we tend to not put on our priority lists when we’re growing our families.”
As unwelcome as the pandemic has been, it’s also afforded an opportunity to provide meals for families that are in quarantine, as Durick has done.
The GreyLine Station location will enable Durick to expand her offerings to include sitdown meals and to host dinner parties around celebrations or special milestones.
Durick plans to open for breakfast and lunch, initially, and perhaps for a special concept monthly dinner, in addition to private events. Group gatherings and meal services will adhere to current COVID-19 guidelines, she added.
She’ll offer a core menu, with some additions that coincide with delivery meals available that particular week. She’ll offer tea and coffee, and depending on successful licensure, she may also serve beer and cocktails.
“My greatest desire is to support my friends and be their village and to help others do the same.”
A busy mom of a 4-year-old daughter herself, Durick said her goal is to help busy people help out others or themselves by making the day just a little easier.
Said Durick: “My greatest desire is to support my friends and be their village and to help others do the same.”