After spending nearly two decades working in restaurants, Chef Paul Grana is nurturing his community in a new way. The Baldwin native is the founder and owner of The Food Peddler, which facilitates cooking and yoga classes and sells handcrafted, Ayurvedic ingredients.
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of medicine that focuses on maintaining a balance within the mind, body, and spirit to treat and prevent illness. Grana became more familiar with its benefits after earning his 200-hour yoga teacher certification in 2019.
“Everything I’ve ever learned I attribute to yoga or working in kitchens,” he said. “We help individuals achieve little goals by learning these life skills — the basics of cooking, cleaning, organizing — all the things that led me to be successful in my career to date.”
The Food Peddler’s History
When Grana was 13, he was hired as a dishwasher at a catering company in Baldwin. After a few weeks he was promoted to appetizers, and quickly fell in love with the craft. Grana went on to attend Johnson & Wales University, where he earned an associate’s in Culinary Arts and a bachelor’s in Food Service Entrepreneurship.
Grana cooked in almost every state on the East Coast after graduation before landing in Florida in early 2011. At the end of 2014 he returned to New York and worked on a food truck, but was then hired as the sous chef at Colonie, a farm-to-table restaurant in Brooklyn.
After a few years Grana left to pursue a self-financed food tour in London, where he trained in some of the city’s best restaurants, including under celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver. Grana said he felt “beaten up” upon his return to the states, so he took up bikram yoga in late 2016.
Around this time he also opened Copper Pot Chicken Co. in Rockville Center, where the idea for The Food Peddler first hatched.
“I was [also] working the front desk at Revolution Yoga Studio, and started selling spices [there], online, and at farmers’ markets,” Grana said. “The blends have no GMOs, which make them stronger in potency and quality, and we work with single-origin products.”
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throughout New York State.Courtesy Photos by Moose
A Business is Born
The Food Peddler develops Ayurvedic spice blends, teas, and salts using sustainable ingredients sourced from local New York markets. For the blends Grana toasts whole spices to release their essential oils, lets them cool, then grinds them by hand with the help of a few “old-school tools.”
When COVID hit, Grana pivoted to teaching cooking and yoga separately. But after sustaining several injuries in a car accident in late 2021 and reinjuring himself a year and a half later, he realized he could combine the two.
“The doctors told me I may never walk again, let alone cook, so I used my knowledge as a yoga and Ayurvedic practitioner to align myself and beat their odds,” he said. “It was difficult but doable to work in kitchens, so in October 2022 I collected my first handful of students.”
Grana travels to his students’ homes and teaches them how to cook on their own equipment. Each class is individualized to the individual since Ayurveda is an individual science, he said. The Food Peddler’s students are taught specific cooking techniques as opposed to recipes, and are encouraged to transform the ingredients as they wish.
Some students also work with The Food Peddler to overcome sensory aversions, Grana said. He noted that his classes cultivate a safe space wherein people can explore their senses while working with certain foods, and gain a better understanding of how they impact one’s overall well-being.
“In yoga we talk about food as the lifeforce, how it affects our stomach biome, and how you can feel better by eating better quality foods,” Grana added. “Everything works together.”
The Food Peddler’s impact is evident outside the classroom, too. One student’s parent observed a complete “turnaround in their child” after working with Grana for just a few months, Grana said.
“They were washing dishes, and out of the blue, the son asked, ‘Can I help you? I dry the dishes with Chef Paul every week,’” he added. “I can teach you how to cook, but I can’t teach you the drive or the want to learn — you have to bring that to class every single time.”
Looking Ahead
Grana’s ultimate goal is to open a self-sustaining market and Ayurvedic/yoga clinic in the community. It would serve as a place where shoppers can get all their staple goods as well as educational tools on how to live a holistic lifestyle.
“I was born and raised on Long Island, and even though I spent 10 years away, I’ve been able to share my story and healing journey with my students at The Food Peddler and Blue Lotus Yoga [where I currently teach],” Grana said. “Bringing some of that into the classroom and the studio allows me to give back in a different way.”
Grana lives in Baldwin with his wife, Katrina, and their children, Cosette and Jasper. For more information, visit The Food Peddler’s pages on Facebook and Etsy.
