Follow them on IG at @ritualaustin

 

Tiffany Powers: (00:01)
Hello everybody. And Hello Lori and Roxana. I’m so excited to have you guys on this little interview today with me. And I was so excited because I recently was having a birthday party for my little guy and I’m always looking for Keto options and there’s not that many out there and there are not that many people that, you know, there’s people are still learning about it and I think in Austin as well. Um, so I’m very excited to find out that your company does make Keto Boards and you may be like the beautiful Keto board and I would love for you guys to explain like what your, like your company’s name, what you do about the board.

Roxana: (00:41)
Okay, perfect. Well, first of all, thanks for having us on and yeah, it was a blast making this board for you. Um, so you want to talk about how we got started?

Lori: (00:52)
Roxana and I were just entertaining. We make our boards just like we like to entertain in our house and we like to gather and graze around. Um, just really fun little platters, and we were doing it more and more and joking around that we should be, we should be doing this for a living. And then we thought other people need to be enjoying that. Um, the name of our company is Ritual, which, uh, really is about the ritual of gathering and connecting and, and grazing over the food. So it’s so great if people that are eating the Keto diet can gathering graze around the same things or, you know, any, uh, we have cheese and charcuterie. We have, um, all different dietary requests. And so we love, we love doing that for people so that everybody can connect in the same way.

Roxana: (01:42)
Right. You know, what was important to us at the start was that let’s create boards for like Lori was just saying all different dietary. I hate to use the word restrictions, but, um, dietary choices, right? Because there are so many different types of eating patterns today, and you shouldn’t be limited to just a cheese and charcuterie board. Because, you know, people want to be on boards. People want Keto boards. People want Paleo boards and gluten-free. We have, we have one called the Waldorf, which is super fun because it’s like no nuts, no gluten, no dairy, you know.

Lori: (02:21)
But honestly, if you’re, and that was a request for the Waldorf school by some parents, but if you’re eating one of our boards, you honestly don’t even know it has restrictions on there or you know, any because they’re, they’re fun and beautiful and delicious. So if somebody who’s eating a keto board, um, they’re only if they’re told are they gonna realize. Right, right.

Roxana: (02:46)
That’s kind of how we got started, and that’s the Keto board.

Tiffany Powers: (02:50)
Yeah. I love, again, lots of Keto board. And the cool thing was too is that I have some family members that have health issues as well and they have liver issues and they have diabetes and things like that. So it was nice to be able to like give them that option as well because they were looking for things that were like not going to spike your blood sugar or make them feel so it was awesome. Like they were still like so grateful. And they just ate it, like munched on it. Like that was what they ate and they’re like, we’re so full. But I was grateful for that too because yeah when you have like diabetes or like a liver issue and you have to watch what you’re eating and it’s like, it’s perfect for that too. So I really, I love that. Um, and yeah, so for the Keto Board that you guys made. Um, what are the types of things that you use on the boards, like what needs to find on there with cheeses? Like nuts? Like what kinds of things do you usually put on?

Lori: (03:40)
We’ll start with the meat.

Roxana: (03:41)
Sure. So with the meats, we are, so sourcing locally is really important to us. But you know, a charcuterie. is there aren’t a ton or are there, there are some local artisans that we love using, but right now we’re using a local distributor that’s been around like 40 something, three-generation, longhorn meets. They’re great. Lonestar And they have a big carrier brand that is very high quality. Um, it’s all artisan. It’s, uh, you know, no fillers, no nitrates. Um, you know, really good quality ingredients and it’s called Nyman ranch. Many people know Nyman ranch meets, but they have great charcuteries. So we chose a Genoa, Capicola, and Prosciutto because those have a lot of fat in them, right? So, you know, with Keto right, you want to have a higher fat content. And so we chose those meats for your board and um, and you know, we can’t say enough about Nyman ranch. Great, great product. And then for the cheeses, we’re also focused on local.

Lori: (04:50)
And so the key to the board, we wanted to do high-fat cheeses and we liked the high-fat cheeses. Anyway, those are, you’re so good.

Tiffany Powers: (04:57)
Those are so good, how can you not.

Lori: (04:58)
We did a, uh, triple cream brie who did a whole round of that and we talked that with berries. Um, and then we did a, um, we made homemade herbs, cream cheese, so we always do a spread or a dip that is, is cream cheese-based or sour cream-based. So that’s our summer garden, one with lots of like garlic and, and fresh herbs in it. And then we love in the summer of burrata, so that creamy burrata. Um, and we do a homemade basil and olive oil and some herbs that we brought our spices we brought back from Italy on top of that. And we nestled that on the cabbage, which is a beautiful display, but also you can slice one thing in Keto is, you know, replacing chips, tortilla chips, any kind of chips. And so we love using cabbage for that. Oh yeah. And then we did some blue cheese stuffed olives. Um, and um, what else? Then, the bean stirs Gouda, which we love a smoky Gouda. Yeah. Um, and so some other ones that we, we love to use that would be great on a Keto board would be, um, a, a Texas farm, a dairy called Bell Tyson, and they make all sorts of cheddar. One of our favorites, our redneck Cheddar, they call it, that’s high in fat. And then goat cheeses, surprisingly high, high in fat. And our favorite goat cheeses, um, from dripping springs. It’s called Turlock.

Tiffany Powers: (06:34)
Yum. My God, I didn’t know about this place. I’m so excited.

Roxana: (06:37)
Oh yeah. Val Tizen and pure luck or just fantastic, you can get them at any of the grocery stores around Austin. Um, and the cool thing about them is they have such a wide variety of all kinds of different cheddars, all kinds of different cheddars. And we liked the redneck Cheddar because the name is fun, but it’s delicious delicious Cheddar. And then the pure luck, they have all these flavored um, uh, chefs, right? So it’s, you know, it’s a lot of fun and.

Lori: (07:09)
You can mix it up and get them covered in herbs or pepper, pepper, spices, kind of pretend to go with those. I know to go with those, we chose the vegetables that would complement those cheeses, right? So with the Burrata, you know, we, we put a heavy dose of olive oil on there and then the seasonings and the Basil. So we wanted to make sure we had like cucumbers and tomatoes and Zucchini and things that would go well with the burrata and of course the herded cream cheese. Um, and then it was super fun saying, well, what can we do differently? How do we make a Keto board stand out from all the other boards? So we did the, um, the bacon-wrapped asparagus and we did the, uh, the hard-boiled eggs with tomato and bacon crumbles. And then at the last minute, Lori was like, oh, let’s, you know, we, we’ve got to judge it up. Why not the truffle oil on, on the eggs? That’s always really delicious. So those are two things that stand out for us on our Keto board that no other board has. Um, so it was kind of fun to do that.

Tiffany Powers: (08:14)
Oh yeah. Oh my God, you’re making me hungry. Our bored is gone, but now I’m hungry. Yeah, no, it was, it was amazing. It just makes me so happy that you know that you guys are using local products and that you are, um, you know, you’re offering all these different options for people that had dietary restrictions. It’s not always easy to find that. And it’s not like you can go to HP and say, please, can you give me a Keto board? Because they can’t do that. So it’s nice that you guys are offering that for people because there are going to be a lot of people like looking for that. Definitely in.

Roxana: (08:43)
Austin. Yeah. And the nuts. Um, so we chose the cashews, and macadamia as pistachios would be good on that as well. But we had the [inaudible] almonds, Rosemary Marcona almonds and we love ’em Harper insult petitions. You can get her gluten-free nut mixes at the Austin farmer’s market. Oh cool. We love her. She’s a great lady. She’s got turmeric and cardamom and all these great flavor profiles and she considers the dietary restrictions that people have as well. Yeah. Yeah. And let’s see what else. You can always if you want to add some cracker to the board and you could add it as seed cracker. Um, but we love, we love all the crude attain. Geez. Yeah. As soon as seed cracker would be great, I’m coming up in the fall, we’re going to be making a homemade lemon must startup, which is, has no sugar in it.

Speaker 1: (09:42)
So that can be added, um, as a compliment to the meats and cheeses as well as whole grain mustard. So we love spreading and adding in pairing thing. Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. Where do you guys source like your vegetables and your fruit from the first local farmer’s market? Um, and, and then, um, um, farm to table Austin is so great for that because they have a, you know, there’s Johnson’s backyard garden and uh, grocers and then the farm, there’s a couple of different companies that source locally from larger agricultural fields and they deliver. So, uh, we, you know, we’re on their email list and we see what seasonal items are available. So amazing. It’s, it’s great and that’s why it tastes so good. And Laurie has a beautiful herb garden, so all of our bases with mint, that’s all fresh from the gardens, all organic, organic.

Speaker 1: (10:43)
And our lab is where we grow that. And so we try to incorporate that into the flavors. Yeah. And what’s most important? I think overall sort of like kind of a mission or purpose for what we do. All of this is so you don’t have to worry about it. You know, you throw your party, bring your friends, you know there’s enough to deal with when you have a party going on but then don’t have to worry about the food. It’s the food that is going to be great and you’ve got this big box of food. Um, so that’s, you know, important to us that you get to enjoy the board and everyone who you invite us to enjoy it as well. I’m so happy to hear that those who were there didn’t, you know, could indulge, without worrying about anything. Yeah. Oh yeah. To accessible. And I like also too because I feel like the boards are perfect for like a party at home or like a gathering or if you’re going to do like a high-end event, like I could see you guys, I don’t know if you guys offer that, but I could see it being for that too. Yeah. They don’t all come in cardboard boxes.

Speaker 1: (11:47)
I was telling my husband like when we do our official ceremony, I’m like, maybe we should get like a big table. We’ll have them do it. Like love doing Gracie. Yeah. Grayson tables. Just the full table. It’s so much fun. I mean, when it’s, I don’t know, it’s like the eyes, the eyes just light up when you come into a room and you have all this gorgeous food, everyone, it makes people feel really good. Right? That’s why people at a party hang out in the kitchen. Oh, general art. Edible art. Oh yeah. No, I, it’s, it’s amazing. Yeah. So, and then if people would like to find you, how can they find, like what does your website, what would you like to give out, your number like, or your Instagram? Right now we are building our website. We’re excited about it. It will be www.ritualaustin.com.

Speaker 1: (12:32)
Um, that right now we’re on Instagram. Um, so it’s at Ritual Austin. Okay. Email. Hello at the virtual ghosted desktop desert. The three ways to get in touch with us. Awesome. And then you guys are ready to accept more orders. Absolutely. Yes. We’re starting a tailgater board for the fall. We can make that Quito. I’m so great for tailgate parties. I’m literally on the tailgate or I’m at home. Yeah. And we have a couple of different sizes. We have a small, and what you got was a medium, medium, 10 to 15. And then we also have, uh, the extra-large size Texas-size, which is one that’s 20 to 30 people. It’s, it’s fun. Plus the table one option, right. Plus the two. Right. And then we come and set it up there for, for a grazing table. Cool. So awesome. Yeah. Well, I’m so excited and I can’t wait for more people to find you and I’m just so thrilled that you shared these amazing places in Austin that have all these ketones, like products that I can go and buy.

Speaker 1: (13:40)
So I’m excited about that. And we do, I do want to mention we get our cheese at aunt’s Annelies so it’s Nellie’s cheese shop in Hyde Park on Duvall. Cool. That’s great. Yeah. And we do deliver right now for free until our website’s up, so, oh, people better skip that up. Yeah. I said, what was so nice meeting with you guys and thank you so much for sharing this awesome information, and I cannot wait for people to make orders with you and check you out, and I’m just so excited for you guys.