COLUMN: Carillon Flashback February 17, 2011 – Son carries on his mother’s legacy

Friends and acquaintances, including her children’s friends, were often invited to share Ruth Oommen’s home-cooked dishes at their home in Steinbach. Oommen would repeatedly say, “No matter if it’s a small party or large party, Ruth’s kitchen is always open.”

She was not afraid to try new recipes or to change a familiar one to suit her own tastes, and her dream was to open a business that would take her joy of cooking to the next level. With a great deal of inspiration from their mother, Ruth and Thamby’s sons, Mark and James, learned the love of cooking, and are carrying on her dream in her memory.

Thamby Oommen, born in India, was attending Mennonite Brethren College in Winnipeg when he met Ruth Reimer, a native of Kleefeld. Their relationship carried on through Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, where he studied social work and she pursued a career in music.

Back in Manitoba, Ruth went on to teach voice for 33 years, and also directed the Eastman Youth Choir. But her true passion was cooking. It was in 2000 that she began making cookie mixes to be sold as fundraisers, followed by catering for small office lunches, specializing in desserts.

Home favorites included old-time Mennonite recipes, as well as Thamby’s native Indian-style foods. Neighbours were constantly exposed to tantalizing aromas coming from the Oommens’ residence. There was also the opportunity for frequent samplings, as well. Half of the Oommens’ garage had been transformed into a kitchen, complete with coolers and storage facilities.

Tragically, Ruth’s life was cut short in an auto accident, Jan. 9, 2009, and Thamby was seriously injured.

At that time, Mark and James wondered what would become of Ruth’s dream and what it would take to get it back on track. Ruth, after all, had been seen as the strong one and while children are often encouraged to “cut the apron strings,” it seemed natural for Mark to carry on his mother’s legacy.

Mark had moved back home to Steinbach to be with his father, after managing the kitchen at Baked Expectations in Winnipeg for 11 years.

Today, Mark, with some help from James and Thamby, is successfully managing Ruth’s Kitchen at the nearby Red River College campus on Loewen Boulevard, supplying Oakridge Café with fine desserts and catering lunches, including soups and sweets.

Looking back, Mark feels his mother prepared the path for him and continues to feel her presence in the kitchen, proudly carrying on the legacy of Ruth Oomen’s love of cooking.

– with files from Jane Barkman