I'm currently having a weird coincidence experience on top of a weird sort of Mandela experience. Last night I opened a jar of "Talk o' Texas" brand pickled okra, and while doing so, I exclaimed how when I was younger, my favorite brand of pickled okra was "Texas Pete." And I marveled at how even though Louisiana really does have the best food overall, Texas sure knows how to do a pickled okra. Then I proceeded to devour half the jar of Talk o' Texas pickled okra, because, well, I just love any kind of pickled okra.
Then this morning, I opened my computer, and the first story I read was how the "Texas Pete" company was being sued because it is not a Texas company, but was actually founded in 1929 in North Carolina. Upon hearing this news, I searched the Texas Pete website and realized they've never actually made pickled okra, so the pickled okra I've eaten throughout my life was always from the Talk o' Texas brand. My brain, it hurts!
Justyn Melrose of Nexstar Media Wire explains the lawsuit against Texas Pete:
A grocery shopper in California has filed a class-action lawsuit against the T.W. Garner Food Co., alleging false advertising over their Texas Pete brand of hot sauce.
His issue? Texas Pete hot sauce is not made in Texas, but rather North Carolina.
Philip White, of Los Angeles, claims he was under the impression that Texas Pete hot sauce was produced in Texas when he purchased a $3 bottle at a Ralph's supermarket in September 2021, according to the complaint.
"White relied upon the language and images displayed on the front label of the product, and at the time of purchase understood the product to be a Texas product," the complaint said.
The label includes "the famed white 'lone' star from the Texan flag together with a 'lassoing' cowboy," which are images White assumed to be distinctly Texan, the lawsuit stated.
White said he was later surprised to learn that Texas Pete is not a product of Texas, but manufactured in Winston-Salem, North Carolina — a fact T.W. Garner Food Co. readily admits on its website.
Read more of the article here and find out why Texas Pete is called Texas Pete. And I'll go back to pondering why I thought Texas Pete made pickled okra, while eating some more Talk o' Texas pickled okra (which are made in San Angelo, Texas).
