This product caught my eye a few months ago because of its name, which was "seeded crisps." Especially after I looked more closely at the box and saw that the crisps were made in Australia. Obviously, as many (most?) folks know by now, "crisps" in the U.K. (and I think Australia, since it's a former British colony *), usually refer to thin cut, dry and crunchy fried bits of potato. Or what we call "potato chips" or just "chips" for short in the U.S. Anyway, to add to the confusion, the product I'm talking about appeared to be different from the traditional English-type crisps. These seeded crisps were from the Olina's Bakehouse line, and I tried their cranberry & pumpkin seed kind and their cashew and rosemary ones.
It took a little online digging to find out even the basics of the Olina's Bakehouse history, as the official company website was rather lacking in this regard. However, it seems that back in 2010 a man named Todd Wilson and several unidentified friends started a food company, which I believe was then called Gourmet Food Holdings. Their seafood brand, Ocean Blue, did well, and so the company expanded. In 2015 Gourmet started making baked goods, such as crackers and crisps, under the brand names OB and Olina's Bakehouse. At some unmentioned point Ocean Blue was evidently sold off to another business, as it's not listed as being part of the Gourmet Food Holdings holdings, if you will. (The Ocean Blue brand still appears to be active, though.) Aside from the two lines I listed, Gourmet also has Crispbic (crisps and crispbreads), and Gullon (biscuits, i.e., cookies). Moving on, in March of 2021 Gourmet Food Holdings was purchased by the mammoth Mondelez company. Other than these few details I didn't learn much. Gourmet's wares are sold throughout Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. The company reportedly employs between 201-500 people, and has an annual revenue of 9.8 million (presumably in Australian dollars, since it's based in that country. The main company headquarters are in Dandenong South, which is an industrial suburb of Melbourne. All of their products are free of GMOs. One business website I consulted listed a Brian Chua as another Chief Executive Officer, so maybe he was one of Todd Wilson's pioneering friends in 2010. Finally, I don't know who "Olina" is. Maybe Todd Wilson's wife, or mom? There's not a photo of her on the box, or even a cartoon logo or anything. It's a mystery.
Olina's Bakehouse seeded crisps, cranberry & pumpkin seed: These had a roughly circular shape, about 5.5 cm. (about 2.25 inches), in diameter. Brown in color, with visible pumpkin seeds. Dense, dry, and crunchy. Pretty good, though. I could definitely taste the pumpkin seeds especially. They were good both plain, and with hummus on them.
Olina's Bakehouse seeded crisps, cashew & rosemary: Same size, shape, and color as the previous. Visible seeds, too. Also were dry, crunchy, and dense. Had a slightly sweetish taste as well. They were tasty plain, or with hummus on them.
So, in conclusion, I would recommend both of these, and would buy them again, and try other kinds. A solid snack.
I was curious, so I looked up the name "Olina." There are a few explanations about what people came up with the name. For one, it's a girl's name in Hawaii, which means, "joy." (There's a famous Hawaiian resort named Ko Olina, which may be related.) Olina is also a name of a village in Italy. And some think it's derived from the Old Norse name Olaf. Plus, according to what I read, The Norse variant has the weirdest, most obvious meaning of any name I've heard of. It supposedly means "ancestor's descendant." Really. When you think about it, isn't literally everyone their ancestor's descendant, by definition? Wacky.
* I did a little checking, and it's apparently even more convoluted than I imagined. Instead of calling American-style French fries "chips," as they do in England and Ireland, and potato chips "crisps," reportedly most Australians call French fries "hot chips," and potato chips "crisps." All meaning that when English, Australian, and American tourists want to eat freshly cooked, thick cut, soft-textured fried pieces of potato in each others' nations, they're bound to be disappointed due to cultural linguistic differences. Part of me wants to blame this all on some ancient, and rather silly yet still annoying, food conspiracy.
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