DeRusha Eats (Well, Not This Time Actually): Delicacies Jewelry
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Maybe the crack of the egg takes you back to childhood, or you're obsessed with all things bacon. John Peter Larson has an ingredient you can wear on your wrist.
"We've got proteins: the cow, chicken, pig," he said.
Larson has been around food for years, doing publicity, helping build chef and TV food host Andrew Zimmern's career, but Delicacies Jewelry started with his wife Nicolle Nelson.
"My wife literally had a dream one night and saw a bulb of garlic on a bracelet. She woke up and said, 'I had this really interesting dream. I'm not sure if it's a good idea or a bad idea,'" Larson said.
At least so far, it looks like a very good idea. Nelson and Larson created thin bracelets called delicacies, and unisex bracelets called "thick cuts." You can customize the bracelets with 25 different ingredients to make it your own.
"All of these ingredients have different meaning and symbolism throughout the different cultures over the course of centuries," Larson said.
He says parsley is a token of innocence and love. Pineapple is the symbol of hospitality. The pig is more than just bacon and pork.
"The pig when it is trying to eat or rooting around in the ground it only moves forward. For hundreds of years people have attributed that to forward progress," said Larson.
His ingredient is the octopus: a symbol of strength, perseverance and wisdom.
"Right before we launched, all of our product fell apart. It was a moment where we were like, 'Do we want to do this or not?'" he recalled. "So I do identify with that octopus: strength and perseverance."
Just like the current trend in restaurants: the ingredients are all whole, simple ingredients.
"If someone wants to stack them they can, and create a recipe of their own," he said.
Bracelets start at $75. Delicacies recently added 14K gold pendants starting around $300, pendants with diamonds for $400, and pendants covered in pave diamonds can be $1,000 and up.
"We didn't want to be cartoonish; this is really fine jewelry," Larson said.
The company also has a charitable component. Every purchase triggers a donation of meals to a nonprofit fighting hunger. Through November, Spoon & Stable chef and owner Gavin Kaysen is the guest chef. Every purchase will send money to Appetite for Change, a nonprofit that uses food as a tool to build health and wealth in North Minneapolis.
Larson said, every ingredient matters, whether it's in on the stove or on your wrist.
