Vital’s Delightful Journey.

As a young man, Vital Gormez left his hometown Istanbul to see the rest of the world. His journey turned to be the same as the journey nougat had made. It was a strange coincidence that he ended up following the traces left by nougat throughout the Mediterranean and throughout time.

Around the 1920’s, Vital arrived in Alicante, a town in South Western Spain, and he discovered the typical Spanish Nougat variety called Jijona.

Jijona is in fact a sweet almond paste, which reminded him of is own Byzantine Helva. Fascinated by this Spanish nougat variety he stayed to learn about it’s secrets but it did not withhold him from travelling on to the north.

In Southern France he arrived in Montélimar, a small town but famous for its Nougat de Montélimar. He decided to stay and learn the craft of making nougat. He became Maître-Nougatier but nevertheless he continued his journey to the north. Through his travels he made a peculiar discovery: the more he moved further to the north, the less people were tempted to eat very sweet.

So when finally his journey ended in Belgium a new adventure began.
In Ghent, life was (and still is) sweet and lived to the fullest. He married a wonderful and bright Belgian girl and by 1926 they both earned their living making their own “Vital nougat”.

This nougat had had some alterations to answer to the taste of the Belgians, who are known to be quite exuberant. So he understood he didn’t have to omit too much of the delightful and rich ingredients like almonds, honey and pistachios.

Thus the very sweet, honey tasted nougat of the Mediterranean had grown into a much more balanced and in the end more international variety:
Vital’s Nougat was a fact.

In 1978, his son Maurice Gormez continued our family business and today succession is guaranteed in Matthias Haeck and Veronique Gormez, his son-in-law and daughter.

With them the company entered an new era: we have started our production in an entirely new and improved factory where we have incorporated the most updated technology together with the highest quality standards.