Happriya Ever After: Priya Ganness bakes breads of joy

Happriya Ever After is not a typical name for a bread business, but then, the story of how it began, and that of each loaf is not typical either.

The original menu of eight loaves of bread tells the story of a single mother’s journey and fight for survival when her life and that of her son were upturned by the covid19 pandemic.

Priya Ganness told Sunday Newsday she was just about to sign on the dotted line for a new job when the health restrictions began in March 2020, leaving her unemployed.

Preschools were also closed and finding a job that would allow her to take her then four-year-old son to work seemed impossible. At that time, Raiden Raphael Harragin had attended school for only two terms but he loved it and was at a loss when he could no longer see his friends and teachers.

So she started baking as a home school activity, teaching him measurements, counting, using timers, and, of course, baking.

“It was two weeks into the lockdown when our store-bought bread finished. I hadn’t baked in ages, but when I checked I had exactly eight cups of flour in the cupboard and a few extra little things.”

She used two cups of flour, two cups of oats to stretch the dough, and added some herbs including rosemary, basil and parsley.

“That loaf was in the oven and the whole place started to smell amazing.

“My little piece of child ate half of a 13-inch loaf. It came out beautifully. He was so proud that he made bread. It was a magical moment for us so we called it Happily Hopeful.”

About two weeks later, a good friend and farmer, Ruppy Ramlogan, dropped off a huge bundle of celery for them. She put celery in almost everything she cooked, and wondered if she could put it in bread. They tried it, along with some garlic. It too came out delicious and she called it Grateful Garden.

She said Raiden has asthma, so she was very concerned about him contracting covid19, or her bringing it home to him. So they were self-isolating, staying at home, and not allowing anyone into their space. Their only interactions with others had been on the phone, or with friends and family who dropped off things for them at the gates of their home, where they would sanitise the items before bringing them inside.

Since they had not been to a grocery or bakery in a while, all their snacks were finished and they had not had a treat in a while. They wanted something sweet and she figured if there were cinnamon breadsticks, there could be cinnamon bread.

“This one I called Serenity. Raiden was outside playing while I was waiting on the bread to finish. He just came in, sat on my lap and rested his head on my shoulder. It was just the most beautiful moment. We just cuddled and enjoyed the aroma as we waited on that bread.”

It was around Easter when they were eating the cinnamon bread with peanut butter. They decided they should celebrate the occasion and added rainbow sprinkles. And that gave her the idea of putting sprinkles in the bread – and Raiden agreed wholeheartedly.

But Ganness recalled it was a very scary time for them. Her cell phone was working intermittently, and she could not afford cable or internet. Also, Raiden was having bad dreams because he was worried about his father and favourite cousin.

On Mother’s Day she told him happiness was a choice. She said they were all safe and healthy and they would find something to be happy about. So, they made rainbow sprinkles bread and called it Happy on Purpose.

The day after Mother’s Day Raiden woke up, showered and dressed, and said he needed to go see his father, who lived a few blocks away. He then called his father and told him to “look out for him.”

They walked to meet Raiden’s father and Ganness cried the whole way. They had been inseparable for seven weeks, doing everything together, and she was distraught to be apart from her son.

“I came home, Raiden does not eat pepper at all, and I decided to make a pepper cheese bread. So I’m there making bread and crying and kept saying, ‘Priya, be of perfect courage. You know his father will keep him safe. You know he’ll return to you safe. Be of perfect courage and perfect faith.’”

She named the bread, mad with parmesan cheese and pepper flakes, Perfect Courage.

Up to that time her recipes were developed out of necessity, as the ingredients were simply what she had in her kitchen cupboards. Although she had no income, the many friends she made over the years as a social activist and from the charity work she did would call and ask what she needed. They would drop off food and toiletries and she received hampers from churches, mosques and temples.

The recipes made two loaves, so they would keep one for themselves and give the other as a thank-you to a neighbour or someone who dropped off items. After a while, people told her they would pay her for the bread, since they were going to buy bread at a bakery anyway.

Now that she had some money, she started going to the grocery and got more creative with her recipes.

Ganness’s next loaf was Morning Glory, made with cranberries and pineapple juice. She dedicated it to her favourite aunt, Dolsie Ramkissoon, who taught her how to bake during a cooking class at Williamsville Composite School in 1997.

In the class she was allowed to experiment and be creative. She fell in love with flavour combinations, textures, and aromas and would add various ingredients to basic bread.

“She used to say the glory of the morning is in the smell of the bread baking. She passed in 1998, but this business would not have happened without her. All those years ago, she taught me a skill that would bear fruit more that 20 years later, allowing me to take care of my son, a child she never met.”

Manifest Abundance was next. Her best friend’s son was born with a medical condition and she dedicated it to him. It is made with chia, flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and oats. It is her healthiest bread.

“In 2020 Raiden turned four and I turned 40, so our number of completion was eight, which meant I needed one more loaf.”

With the encouragement of the daughter of Gail Alibocus, someone she considered her mother, she decided she would turn her baking into a business. She went to the grocery, saw a pack of blueberries and was curious as to how it would taste in bread. With the blueberries, cranberries and chia seeds, she made her eighth signature loaf, Beautiful Beginnings.

The next month, October, she started her business with everything – the mixing, kneading, chopping and peeling – being done by hand, with care, with love and with the help of Raiden.

Ganness could only give thanks to all those who supported her venture.

Last year, she said, was “one of the greatest years for me. I saw the fruit of all the seeds I planted over the years from the farmers, fishermen, activists, artists, former colleagues from the ministry I worked at, people from the trade union movement – so many people came out to support this thing.”

Some of her biggest supporters were her teachers and school friends from Naparima Girls’ High School. She said they made their way from all over the country just to buy her bread in San Juan and help her take care of her son. She added that one friend who owns a bakery brought her a gift of baking supplies, including pans and ingredients.

She also has a landlord who was very patient with her over several difficult months.

“Love is an action. Support and friendship is an action. It’s a doing word. You can’t just say that you care, you have to show it.”

She now has 25 loaves on her menu, a lot more bread pans, and a bigger oven.

She stressed that her kitchen is peanut-, pork- and stress-free. She and Raiden eat, drink, and talk in that kitchen. It is a happy place where they dance, sing, play music, tell stories and bond while making bread.

She said her goal is for her son to have a childhood he does not need to recover from, and for him to become a man whom a woman would not need to recover from.

“I remember pushing back an order one day because my uncle had passed and I did not want to bake sad bread. I only bake when I’m happy, and people tell me they feel happy while eating the bread.

“We are happy and we are determined to live happily ever after.”

For the full list of breads, visit Happriya Ever After on Facebook.