Nicolle Nelson: Delicacies Jewelry Founder. Food jewelry for food lovers!
Our Story
The idea for Delicacies came to me in a dream. A fever dream, to be exact, the result of a bout with Dengue, a rather common malady in tropical climates, including Yucatán, México, where I have been living on and off for the last 16 years. On that particular morning in November 2013, I was visited by a vision. I saw so clearly the tiny, elegant head of garlic, shining brightly on leather, fastened around my wrist. (Nothing like this has never happened to me before. I don’t walk around dazed by epiphanies.)
I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, loving spring and summer and its delicious bounty: pick-’em-and-eat-’em raspberries, panfried, freshly-caught walleye, perfectly-ripe tomatoes, and sweet corn, knee-high by the Fourth of July. Minnesota winters, however, were a different story—which is why my husband, daughter and I started spending the snowy months in Mérida, México, and now live there full-time.
Before Delicacies, I worked in media relations for 18 years. I am a mom to a beautiful 17-year-old daughter who is growing up in Mexico but loves her Minnesota summers as much as I do. My husband and partner in Delicacies, John, is currently serving a 2-year term as President of the Board of Directors for Loaves & Fishes, one of the hunger non-profits we support through our give-back efforts at Delicacies.
Food is a way of knowing ourselves and relating to others. It’s a lens through which we see the world; a principle to organize the chaos, the noise, the suffering, the joys, the rituals, and everyday adventures. We can connect with different cultures through food, and afterwards realize that we aren’t so different after all. For all of us everywhere, the conversations we have over a communal meal bring meaning and order and joy to our lives.
Delicacies is a dream that I’ve been so excited to realize. I love the idea of ingredients as pretty, wearable tokens that bring us home, in an instant. Delicacies is about finding your center, with food as your guide. It’s about honoring and respecting simple ingredients, and recognizing a bit of ourselves in them. We are food lovers, story tellers, knowledge gatherers on a long journey. I hope you’ll come along.