By Skyler Montgomery
A cool breeze carries the sound of upbeat music and the scent of barbecue throughout the gravel parking lot. Parked in front of the brightly colored food trailer, a family waits in their vehicle for an acai bowl, and two other cars enter the lot as well. A group of businessmen and women saying their goodbyes exit a conference center opposite from the Hawaiian-inspired food business. I am the only person in line and take my time to scan the chalkboard “Specials” menu before I place my order.
NutriGroove is a locally owned, Hawaiian-inspired food trailer located at the Little Dooey Fellowship Place in Starkville. The food trailer offers a colorful variety of healthy food options ranging from acai bowls topped with bee pollen ($12) to “groovy smoothies” with added beauty benefits ($10). They even have a special treat for your four-legged friends – healthy and homemade dog biscuits.
Feeling slightly overwhelmed with the many choices before me, I ask for the opinion of the college-aged girl working inside the food trailer.
“A lot of people like the bagels and the acai bowls,” the smiling worker said. “But my favorite is the Hannah Banana smoothie because I love pineapple.”
I take the girl’s advice and place my order for one Hannah Banana smoothie. As I wait, I sit on a wooden picnic bench topped with a vase of flowers and listen to the cars passing by on an adjacent street. Sparkly butterflies hang off the front of the ordering window and light up snowflakes dangle in the breeze.
Five minutes pass and a white Jeep Grand Cherokee whips into the lot, dust floating in its wake. A young girl steps out, orders a Nutella bagel with two smoothies, and climbs back into the SUV where her two friends wait. Moments later their orders, adorned with colorful marigolds, are delivered curbside and the girls speed off. I look at the parking place they had just occupied, and three flower tops rest pressed into the gravel. I laugh.
After a little digging, I find that owner and West Point native Hannah Baird was inspired to create NutriGroove while on a visit to Oahu, Hawaii. This is where she was introduced to her first acai bowl and decided then to bring healthy and delicious food back with her to the South.
"I fell in love with them instantly; not just because they are so beautiful but because they made me feel better,” says Baird on the NutriGroove website. “Our mission is to spread the message of Aloha in the south and help you feel better by eating delicious food.”
The classic acai bowl recipe begins with a solid foundation built on the acai berry. A shining, deep burgundy color, the acai berry is nutrient-dense and filled with antioxidants. The acai bowl phenomenon has quickly made its debut around the U.S. in local, small town coffee shops as well as large chain supermarkets.
Owner Baird seems to have succeeded in her goals judging by the numerous health benefits listed below the items on the menu. Clean energy acai bowls, immune boosting and stress relieving teas, and collagen infused beauty smoothies are just a few of the options to choose from to up your daily health intake. Baird’s food trailer is the only of its kind in Starkville to offer such a wide variety of health food options.
“One Hannah Banana smoothie for Skyler!” calls the worker.
My smoothie is bright pink with a green straw and topped with a fresh yellow marigold. My name is notably spelled correctly on the bottom of my cup. I take my first icy sip and am immediately struck with tastes of strawberry and pineapple, hints of coconut milk flowing throughout. I have found my new favorite sweet-tooth honey hole.
