First off, the word “Régal” means “tasty treat”, and you know what “nomad” means. So here are two young families, in which the parents are long-time outdoors enthusiasts and still play outside with their kids. Kids means “I’m hungry”, right? So a small snack is in order. This is the point of departure of Régale Nomade, a project that had been simmering for a while in these three proud Labelle-dwellers.

Isabelle Morissette, Olivier Chatigny and Valérie Desbiens put together their skills in event management, outdoors and restaurants to create Régal Nomade, a company under development to provide healthy snacks for outdoors enthusiasts. Dehydrated meals and their accompaniments will come next, because all three are convinced that it’s essential to eat healthily, even outdoors.

The “nomadic” products must be light and easy to keep in a backpack. What’s more, the products must showcase local emerging crops like the berries of the argousier (sea buckthorn) and the camerise (haskap or blue honeysuckle) which are produced in our region. They work with, among others, Labelle et l’argousier, from Labelle, who produce the argousier berries and whose company they may take over; the other berries, the blue honeysuckle, come from Rivière-Rouge.

The Regalo fruits (of camerise berries) comes in fine dehydrated orange strips, full of sunshine, a very tasty treat and more fun than a bar. Before distributing on a larger scale, Régal Nomade is waiting for the nutritional labels, which involves quite an intricate regulatory and administrative process. The products will then be available in bulk stores and on the departure sites for outdoor activities.

After that, it’s on to formats that offer cooking shortcuts: for example, instead of offering a freeze-dried spaghetti bolognaise, Régal Nomade will offer a sauce to which you add the pasta of your choice. The same thing will apply to chili, dahl, and a porridge involving the recycling of fruit peels. There are many more projects to explore, such as the use of vegetable proteins, which will contribute to the protection of our planet.

regalnomade.com (Under construction)

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