Two sisters offer authentic Vietnamese online ready-to-use dishes
By Anna Ing
“Omsom” in Vietnamese stands for “rambunctious, rowdy, and noisy” and it is the name of a recently launched “proud, loud dish starters for Asian Cuisine” brand. It was a nerve-wracking gamble to launch a new product during a worldwide pandemic and recession against the advice of their investors. With confidence in their product fulfilling a niche for the rise of home cooks created by Covid-19, Omsom stormed the food starter market with great success. Their current Southeast Asian line consisting of the following dish starter flavors: Vietnamese Lemongrass BBQ, Thai Larb and Filipino Sisq pantry, which sold out in 72 hours after their market entry.
“Founded a year-and-a-half ago by first generation Vietnamese American sisters, Vanessa and Kim Pham, Omsom reclaims the cultural integrity of Asian cuisines too often diluted on grocery shelves in the ‘ethnic’ aisles and increasingly inaccessible in everyday life” per their press release. Their business has a staff of four and is based in New York. The Pham sisters wanted to do it the right way, so they teamed up with award-winning and creative chefs or “taste makers” Jimmy Vo, Chat and Ohm Suansilphong and Nicole Ponseca, all who “push the boundaries and redefine taste” to develop a product line to recreate the bold South-east Asian flavors at home at your fingertips.
“We grew up on the South Shore as the daughters of two Vietnamese refugees,” Kim said in an email to Sampan. “While our town was largely white (more than 90 percent), we spent most of our time in Quincy and Dorchester as a family eating Vietnamese food. As first-generation Americans, food was often the easiest and most accessible way for us to re-engage with our identities. I’m really thankful those restaurants and communities helped shape Vanessa and I as individuals, and has directly led to Omsom’s mission as a company.”
With Omsom, they wanted to share non-mainstream flavors to the growing educated consumer’s palates thanks to people like famous international chefs David Chang and the late Anthony Bourdain, without compromising on quality and taste. Vanessa has the difficult task to source their ingredients so the consumer doesn’t have to do it. If they need Thai Chilies, they do not cut corners using the cost-effective and more readily available options such as Chinese and Korean Chilies. All their products are entirely made in the United States, and do not contain and preservatives and artificial flavors. Their pouches are made of food safe materials, but they use 100 percent recyclable products when possible: boxes, padded mailers, and shipping boxes.
Currently, their products are only available directly from their website (omsom.com). Check out their thoughtfully laid out website to find recipe ideas too, as well as helpful cooking tips, and more information about Omsom. All of their ready-to-use dish starters are packed with citrus, sauces, seasonings, aromatics, and oils so the home cook can create a delicious meal in under 30 minutes. They are easy to prepare, just add any protein (think shrimp, tofu, chicken) and add some fresh produce (think red onion and scallions) to make a simple, flavorful and delicious dish. They plan to expand their product line this fall adding East Asian dishes.
