Vanns spices: Blending food, women’s friendship and business in 1980s Baltimore

Abstract

Abstract In 1981 friends and female entrepreneurs Virginia Limansky and Ann Wilder launched a boutique spice business in Baltimore. The company’s name was a fusion of their first names, Virginia and Ann, and the business initially developed out of their home kitchens. Vanns created popular spice blends of high quality and flourished despite being located in the shadow of nearby spice giant McCormick. It began by offering six spice blends; today the company boasts over 350 spices, herbs and seasoning blends. By focusing on Vanns’ first years, this study first explores what prompted one of its female co-founders to create its foundational spice blends and then withdraw from the enterprise precisely as the business took flight. Next it looks to what circumstances contributed to the business’ early success, and with only one exception, to ways these women entrepreneurs found to transform potential obstacles to Vanns’ success into business opportunities. Finally, this story of Vanns, incorporating detail available through recent access to Val Limansky’s private papers and personal interviews, reintroduces Val Limansky to the story of the business she co-founded, which continues to operate in Maryland today. It also adds particularity to existing accounts of Baltimore’s social and food landscape in the 80s, and of the gourmetization of foodways in America during the 80s and 90s.