Bountiful Boones debuted September 10th at the Deeply Rooted farmers' market in Dieppe Park, one of the city's few joints serving up Indigenous comfort foods outside of Pow Wows, or perhaps an aunties' house

Nicole John Cheesequay, or chef Nicole, left her job as a sous-chef at Il Fornello a week prior to start Bountiful Boones with her partner Quade and aunts.

Their menu items included Fried 'Indian' tacos topped with ground beef, diced tomatoes and shredded cheese for $12, Bannock scones with homemade wild berry jams for $5, and bannock-wrapped hot dogs for $8.

"Starting up my own business has given me the challenge and passion again that I was losing working for somebody else," Nicole told blogTO.

Nicole considers Deeply Rooted a launching pad for her business, which wrapped up for the season on October 15.

"[Deeply Rooted] served me great and gave me the tools I needed to transform my business," she said, adding that it, "also put a spotlight on me where I'm asked now to move to a bigger market."

For the past month, Boontiful Boones has been setting up at In the Pocket in Leslieville, a pop-up market full of vendors that runs through October 31.

In the future, Nicole envisions Bountiful Boones not as a full scale restaurant, but "for more of a bodega Cafe bistro sort of vibe" that offers event catering and ready-to-go meal kits.

What inspired Nicole to become a chef of Ojibwe/Indigenous cuisine?

Short answer - her grandmother!

"As a child I grew up in her kitchen just hanging out helping and talking with her learning about what she's cooking with. And we watched restaurants on TV shows about top chefs," which "instilled in me the environment and the comfortability of being in a kitchen so it's been a career that I've felt more natural and confident [in]," Nicole adds.

Another is more historical.

"And then working with Indigenous cuisine, because I am native, but because my family was through residential schooling, I wanted to retouch my roots and find where my people's food history came from," she explains with a more sorrowful tone.

Bountiful Boones also offers vegan options, despite veganism not being a traditional part of Ojibwe culture. But why is that?

"I am very modern, and I like to expand my options and clientele. I know there's a lot of vegan people around these days," She said.

Since debuting her business Bountiful Boones at Deeply Rooted Market, Nicole, her partner, and her aunties have felt more comfortable about turning their home-cooking into a profession and making inroads into Toronto's food industry.

Other vendors at Deeply Rooted have been rooting for her!

"We [Indigenous people] are still here, and we are still part of the various culinary artistic scenes," says Chelsea Linklater, a fellow vendor who sold beadwork through her business, Nitosis at the market this past summer.

As Nicole does not yet have a website for her new business, be sure to find her on Instagram (@bountifulboones) and Facebook.