It’s 5K Time! Peltier Park race gives proceeds to Brain Aneurysm Foundation
August 26, 2015
OUTDOOR MEMORIES
August 29, 2015
The aroma will hit you before you get a taste of the food being prepared with “O My” seasoning, is what Bertrand Oubre and his wife, Lisa, say about the seasoning product they have developed and are now selling in local stores.
The name comes from the reaction people have once they get a taste of the food prepared with the seasoning and after they have read the label, which promises “low salt, no MSG” and “gluten free.”
“People say, “Umm. Oh, my and smile,” and want more, the Oubres say of “the premium Creole seasoning.”
“We both came up with the name,” Bertrand explained and said he and Lisa designed the cover art for the product’s canister, which they describe as a woman chasing a man for the platter of food he’s carrying.
“The seasoning has this kick, a flavor that is spicy and long lasting, but it’s not a burning sensation,” Lisa said. “It’s good on everything and can be used in dishes like gumbo and jambalaya, and it’s also a good marinade for meat and seafood.”
Bertrand, a native of Thibodaux, said he’s been cooking for 30 years and has been a cook and restaurant manager in Louisiana, New Jersey and Oklahoma, after he completed his culinary training in Oklahoma. He said he “began making the seasoning mix a while back.” Over the years, he’s tweaked it, testing it on friends and family.
“I always knew I wanted to be on this side of the business,” Bertrand said of his new venture producing and marketing. “O My,” he said, is the first in a line of nine seasonings and mixes in the works, including a crab boil and cornmeal mixture.
Although he’s now making his living as a longshoreman, Bertrand said his experience includes being a manager and a chef in Westfield, New Jersey, and at a four-star restaurant in Guthrie, Oklahoma. “In this field, it’s rare to be a manager and a cook at the same time.”
“O My is a healthy product, in line with the trend to eat healthier,” Bertrand said. “It’s a great product for people who have cardiac concerns or who want to reduce their sodium intake, because it’s almost salt free. Adding more of the product to food won’t make it more salty, just spicier. A lot of seasoning mixes on the market today are
mainly salt,” he said, “but ours is healthy and it goes good on anything.”
He noted it is gluten free, which is good for people who have gastric problems. He can back up claims about the product, because it’s been tested. “We ran the product through testing to make sure the label is correct with the nutrition facts, including that it’s only 5 percent salt.”
O My has been in Rouse’s stores exclusively for the past four months, but with word of mouth and store demonstrations in multiple cities, it has really taken off, according to Lisa.
The seasoning is available in 40 Rouse’s across south Louisiana and in Mississippi, and the Oubres have demonstrated cooking with the seasoning in about six locations, including two in Houma. Bertrand does the cooking and Lisa passes out the samples of chicken and vegetables, sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with “O My.”
During in store demonstrations, the Oubres have met customers, who say they are impressed with the product’s taste and nutrition benefits.
“I am surprised by the number of children who like spicy food,” Lisa said, and Bertrand added that olive oil is healthy oil, so it’s a good in combination with “O My.”
The product, which is made in Opelousas, is “Louisiana-certified premium Creole,” Bertand says, and that was important to him, because he is Creole and there’s a difference between Cajun and Creole.
“We are a team,” Bertrand noted of his almost 11 year marriage to Lisa, a native of Napoleonville. She is a full-time practicing podiatrist, who admits she’s more of the taster than the cook. Lisa spends her time off helping her husband with product demonstrations and promoting the product and taste testing. For the demonstrations, Lisa said, they’ve perfected the set up, and it only takes two shopping carts to bring the demonstration items into a store and a few minutes to get ready, usually near the meat counter, to cook and offer samples.
For now, she said, they have a Facebook page, “but it’s not about us, it’s about the product.” The seasoning is also in one shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans and the couple hopes for more locations like that, where tourists shop for local goods.
A vegetable mix is livened up, thanks to some O My. The seasoning with local ties is beginning to generate steam.
