Delicious offerings from fried chicken to glazed cornbread are served at the Vernont catering company.

Growing up as a young Nigerian girl, Harmony Edosomwan was taught early on how to cook. She started off watching her mother cook for family parties.

As a college student at the University of Vermont looking for extra money in 2016, Edosomwan took to the reins herself. Inspired by other chefs on and encouraged by friends who loved her cooking, she started selling her soul food on campus, at parties and around town.

At the time, there were no soul food options in her region of Vermont, known for farm to table cooking. She launched Harmony’s Kitchen in 2020.

“I believe a business like mine or my business is very important because we are continuing a tradition - a Black food tradition:

soul food. To do that in the second whitest state in the country is my way of saying that Black people are here in their state. Our food is here. Our food tradition is being carried out here,” she said.

She likes to think of her business as a flagpost, as Black people come from all over the country to the state.

“One of the first things that they always search up is ‘where’s our food? ‘My business is one of the first businesses that pops up, and so I’m able to be like a touch point for Black folks … so that they can see themselves represented in a place that they otherwise wouldn’t really expect.”

Edosomwan spoke exclusively with The Banner about her business journey, which she says has never faced a lack of demand and has always been supported by the community.

By the time she graduated from college, she continued to sell food in her one-bedroom apartment.

“I just kept cooking and folks would come to my home to pick up [food]. Then I started getting calls about catering events, and so I started doing that, from birthday parties, company parties, to Ben and Jerry’s reaching out to me to cater their Juneteenth event,” she said.

The larger experiences helped Edosomwan to realize that catering was the way her business needed to go, as she recognized that she could make a career for herself.

She also talked about the benefit of having different cultural food in the state for people to try.

“I think it definitely does benefit the state. Folks are able to try different foods and experience things that otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to, because a lot of these restaurants and spaces haven’t really existed here,” she said.

Her selection pays homage to her New York City upbringing, merging Nigerian comfort foods with Puerto Rican cuisine. Fan-favorites include honey glazed cornbread, maple glazed cornbread, and her baked mac and cheese.

One of her biggest hurdles, however, was finding access to commercial kitchen space. She took to scouring databases and cold-calls, settling at the O’Brien Center for the last three years.

For Black and other entrepreneurs of color who may want to open a business of their own, Edosomwan encouraged being mindful of the gaps in a given community and, in a way, ripping off the bandaid.

She started out with only takeout containers from Amazon and food from the local grocery store.

“Make a plan, recognize where there is a need, and where you might be able to be a niche … see how you can fill that need.”