A global village forms over Vermont-made food

This article was originally published in the 2023 Volume IV edition of Vermont Almanac.

Mel and Damaris Hall, owners of Vermont-based Global Village Foods. Photo by Laura Hardie.

They say that food has the power to bring people together. Global Village Foods is proving just how true that is, with its popular menu of ready-to-eat meals and snacks that includes African No-Nut Stew, Swahili Curry Chicken, Black Eyed Bean Kofta, Chickpea Tajine, and other traditionally African dishes – all made here in Vermont. In fact, despite the African origin of these recipes, the Quechee-based company is able to source much of its vegetables and meat from Vermont and greater New England. 

“Yes, it’s African cuisine, but it’s still the basic stuff. It’s carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and onions,” says Mel said, who co-owns Global Village Foods with his wife, Damaris.

Damaris is a trained chef from Kenya who immigrated to New Hampshire in 1991. She and Mel, who grew up in Memphis, then moved across the river to Vermont and sold traditional African food at regional festivals. As their reputation grew, they formed Global Village Foods, and today, their meals can be found on shelves at co-op grocery stores, in every Whole Foods store in the Northeast, and in the dining hall at the University of Vermont. 

Grants from Vermont’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiative and the New England Food Vision Prize helped get the enterprise off the ground and provided the Halls with the resources to source many of their ingredients from farms in Vermont or adjoining New England states. When possible, they prioritize BIPOC and immigrant farmers as a way of paying it forward, Damaris says. It’s a full-circle moment.

“It’s quite exciting to see people who are fairly new to the country doing the things that they like to do,” she said. “And it’s good to say, ‘Hey, we are making a difference; we are buying their products.’ That feels good.”

Photo by Laura Hardie.

Vermont Flavor

The list of Vermont farms currently supplying produce to Global Village Foods includes Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford, Honey Field Farm in Norwich, Hurricane Flats in South Royalton, and Moon Castle Farm in Topsham. The Center for Agricultural Economy’s Hardwick-based Farm Connex Program, a distributor of products from Vermont farms to retailers and other wholesalers, is also a partner in supplying assorted vegetables.

“Seventy percent or more of our produce is local from late summer to fall,” Damaris said. “We try to source as much as we can during the growing season, but the growing season only takes us so far. Last year, we could get carrots and cabbage until January.”

Global Village’s beef is sourced locally year-round through Black River Produce, a food distributor based in Springfield. Black River sells them beef from Vermont, and then from across New England when Vermont sources are exhausted. So far, Global Village has been unable to source chicken locally. “No one has a chicken solution yet that is price point competitive for wholesale,” Mel said.

Global Village Foods’ team includes one employee dedicated to building relationships with farmers and ensuring their products meet USDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) standards. Damaris said many farms they work with are organic, which means they generally already meet the checklist requirements. The challenge isn’t the quality; it’s the quantity. When demand exceeds supply, they’ll search out additional sources of local vegetables. “We’ll go through a farmers’ market and say, ‘Who has extra?’ and swoop up everything and store it and have it available,” Mel said.

The success Damaris and Mel found in sourcing and selling their products, they say, is largely because of the food culture they found in Vermont.

“Vermont has a national brand ethos around clean eating,” Mel said. “Made in Vermont is a prominent feature of what we do.”

Momentum for their business can be traced all the way back to 1997, when Damaris and Mel opened a restaurant in White River Junction called Taste of Africa Karibu Tulé and built a loyal following. A few years later, they had a child born with severe food allergies. Damaris shifted to an allergy-free menu at home and at their restaurant.

“It inspired us to say, ‘How many other people out there are experiencing the same thing that we are in that they can’t find anything their child can eat?’ And what can we make for them?’” Damaris said. 

As the restaurant grew, the challenge of raising kids and running it became too much. So, the business shifted to catering and selling prepared meals at farmers’ markets and co-ops. This was the launching point for creating the Global Village Foods brand in 2016.

Photo by Laura Hardie.

Their ready-to-eat meals contain no additives, preservatives, or artificial ingredients. They’re all allergy-friendly, with gluten-free and vegan options. “Which is how Damaris has cooked all her life,” Mel said.

Just as the business took off, the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to drop off a cliff, and Global Village shifted to providing food to community food shelves through the Vermont Everyone Eats! Program. Run by the State of Vermont, it paid businesses like Global Village to provide nutritious meals to Vermonters in need of food assistance.

As the economy rebounded, they shifted their focus to expanding into foodservice. At the University of Vermont, they provide bulk stews and cases of samosas and falafels for the dining halls. Their individually portioned meals and snacks are sold in campus convenience stores.  

Damaris says they plan for growth in campus dining driven by demand for more variety, “The dining experience has changed over the years on campus…our food fits into the food stations for ethnic and allergy free.”

In anticipation of expanding to more colleges and universities, they recently opened a new production facility in Quechee. The challenge now is sourcing enough local ingredients and getting their products across the U.S.

“If you talk to any food producer in Vermont, you’ll find distribution is a problem. It’s hard to get stuff out of Vermont and into Vermont,” Mel said. “The next piece of the puzzle becomes finding the right distributor with the right relationships in the retail channels you’re trying to get into.”

As Damaris and Mel reflect on the company’s growth, they’re hopeful their food will unite people as it makes its way from coast to coast. “Nowadays, people are looking for more flavors, foods that are more diverse,” Damaris said.

“Good flavor and good food know no boundaries,” Mel added. “The reality is it’s hard to even define ethnic food. There is an influence from some global, regional tradition that crosses into almost every aspect of food.”

Photo by Laura Hardie.