oomé smoked tofu Mini Interview
We’re thrilled to chat with Miki Talebi of oomé smoked tofu for this month’s Meet The Maker Mini Interview. Smoked tofu is a staple in so many homes these days, and we love how thoughtfully crafted, local, and extremely delicious Miki’s take on this favourite is! Creating oomé has been a labour of love on many levels, from her intention to honor her Japanese heritage and her father, to her desire to provide her kids with one of the foods they like best. This is no doubt why the quality of the ingredients, flavours and overall final products is so incredibly high. We’re so happy to offer this small window into Miki’s great idea to flourishing small business journey!
Share your story with us in a 150 words or less.
oomé was born from the loss of my father and paying tribute to my Japanese identity on my mother’s side. My father had a passion for good food, great company, and life in general. He regularly prepared food using his smoker for the family. But in the summer of 2020, he suffered a significant accident. Over the course of the next few months, my sister and I prepared food for our respective families and spent the evenings at the hospital with our mother. Our children are big fans of smoked tofu, and during the height of the pandemic we could not find it anywhere. I light-heartedly told my sister I would smoke tofu for our kids. Then, in November of 2020, after many ups and downs, my father passed away and I found myself unable to let go of the idea of making smoked tofu – not only as an opportunity to take a leap of faith in myself, but also to honor my father. And that is how this entire adventure began.
Getting from an idea to a small business is a lot of work! When did it first sink in for you that ‘this is really happening’?
At least once each day there’s a moment where I still remind myself that this is really happening! But the first time was at our very first tradeshow. We had launched just three weeks prior to this and the feedback we had from everyone at this event was so positive! Our booth was busy and there was a buzz of excitement in the air. And, at the end of the event, we even walked away with a silver award for most promising new product! This was absolutely a pinch-me moment, and reassured us that we were onto something.
