Tashelle Darby-Wong is on a mission to make the spice industry more inclusive, especially for those with food allergies. Earlier this year, she launched her IrieVeda Spice Blends with the goal of providing ingredients that were free of some of the most common allergens. Already she is focused on growth and eyeing how to incorporate her concept into restaurants.
While IrieVeda only just came to market this spring, the seeds for it were planted decades ago. Born and raised for the first six years of her life in Jamaica, Darby-Wong, who also has Indian heritage, grew up watching her grandmother hand roast and flavor each of the seasonings for their meals. The Jamaican culture of fresh and seasonal cuisine – delivered on a regular basis from farmers to their doorstep – also made an impact.
But after relocating to the United States, Darby-Wong adapted to American culture and the differences in cuisine. It wasn’t until her son developed food allergies at an early age that she found herself harkening back to the Jamaican way of preparing foods.
The turning point came on Thanksgiving in 2014. Darby-Wong was gathered around the table with family, ready to tuck into the meal. Her son, then about 8 months old, got a jump on things, devouring mac and cheese. As he did, Darby-Wong noticed a change in his complexion. His skin grew red and splotchy and he started coughing.
They immediately rushed him to the emergency room and soon thereafter confirmed that he had food allergies. At the time, interventions and prevention for infant allergies were limited and they already knew he got fussy when consuming certain things, which had prompted changes in Darby-Wong’s and her son’s diets.
“From that, it was a constant process of learning. How do I deal with this? How do we change how we're eating?” she recalled.
As she tested out different foods that met her son’s needs, Darby-Wong grew frustrated with how many packaged goods contained allergens or were processed in facilities that did. Even things as simple as spices could contain allergens like gluten, often used as a thickener.
As she undertook the trial-and-error process, Darby-Wong found herself researching the Indian-rooted practice of ayurveda, which translates roughly from the words “ayur,” meaning “life” and “veda” meaning “knowledge.”
In ayurveda, spices are used for more than just seasoning, but for believed health benefits, like with the ever-growing popularity of turmeric. Within ayurveda, Darby-Wong also discovered that certain foods cause certain bodily responses and sought to create a “perfect balance” that didn’t tip one way or the other.
That led her back to her childhood in Jamaica and her grandmother’s cooking practices.
Soon Darby-Wong, who is also a certified life and health coach, began making her own spice blends and along the way realized the need extended far beyond her family. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from allergies, making it the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S., according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Determined to tackle the problem, she finally found the time and space to do just that during the Covid-19 pandemic. IrieVeda wasn’t Darby-Wong’s first foray into food manufacturing, having had a short stint early in her career at Kraft Foods before segueing into other business sectors like online recruiting and the energy sector.
IrieVeda runs out of a warehouse in West Chester. Darby-Wong already has plans for the second floor of that building that includes creating a space for private lessons.
Spices are imported whole from an allergen-free facility in Sri Lanka and come in dried. From there, Darby-Wong hand grinds and roasts the spices to derive her roughly dozen current offerings, which range from Jamaican Scotch bonnet to Ceylon cinnamon alba to blends like the Old World Roast and her first concoction, West Indies Curry. Spices and blends come in varying sizes and run from $5 up to $50 for a trio of blends, which is an early best-seller.
Already Darby-Wong is working on her next seasonal release, which will coincide with the fall and winter months and focus heavily on baking.
As a new business, IrieVeda is working to expand its customer reach through education. Though early yet, Darby-Wong said consumers are coming from two distinct demographics: those involved in the meditation and yoga communities, and those in the allergy community.
Almost all of IrieVeda’s sales are e-commerce and while increasing market share would traditionally dictate wholesale, Darby-Wong is mindful of growing without educating consumers. For now, she wants to expand to smaller businesses within the yoga community rather than large retailers.
Looking ahead, she also wants to connect with restaurants to use spices to create dishes for those with allergies.
That move falls in line with her mission as a whole. “I just want them to understand that we're all different, we all have different needs,” she said, and that a little flexibility and ingenuity can go a long way toward making sure “everyone feels welcome.”
What’s the meaning behind the name?
Irie is Jamaican, which means positive. … In ayurveda, ayur is “life” and veda is “knowledge.” For my IrieVeda, I wanted to create something similar.
What are your plans for expanding your business?
I have an upstairs [at the warehouse where] I'm creating a kitchen. That way I can have private teaching lessons where I'll do meditation classes, as well as show you how to use spices and help you to understand being in the kitchen shouldn't make you anxious. Cooking for people that might have allergies shouldn't make you anxious.
How long does it take to roast the herbs?
It's very different depending on the size of the actual seed. It could be two or three minutes or it could be five depending on what it is and what kind of flavor I'm trying to achieve.
