Healthy vegetable seasoning mix created by couple in NC: 'Foundation is love'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- We all know, that sometimes eating vegetables can be boring. That's why one North Carolina couple is making it their mission to change the way people cook with a special seasoning mixture.

Zane Marks created a blend that's both healthy and delicious. He's so passionate, that he and his wife made the decision to sell their house and live in an RV and they're finally getting the recognition they've worked for throughout the last decade.

It doesn't matter what you're cooking up in the kitchen...Zane Gray Vegetable Seasoning has you covered.

"If you taste it, you're going to purchase it," Marks said.

But this concoction of seasonings is much more than just a seasoning blend. Every sprinkle, made with hard work and love, is paying homage to his roots.

"My dad and mom were old school so they would ship us back down to North Carolina in the summertime to work on my grandfather's farm. In that kitchen in that farmhouse, there was five women in there all the time and they were cooking. I stayed in the kitchen with my mom and them and saw these women craft up meals that you wouldn't believe," Zane said.

Those experiences stayed with Zane his entire life. And after retiring as a corrections officer, he and his wife Akilah opened restaurants. And that's where Zane Gray Vegetable Seasoning was born. And it was so good, it brought one customer to tears after ordering mustard and turnip greens.

"She was crying and she said, 'I have not had greens this good since my grandmother and my grandmother has been dead for 15 years and this is the first time I've had them taste this good.' So that was our wow moment," Akilah, Zane's wife, said.

After the pandemic, the restaurants closed but Zane and Akilah knew they had something special. Bottling his seasoning mix, Zane and Akilah attended markets and trade shows and finally, in 2021 they got the email they had been waiting for.

"I said to Zane, 'We got an email from Food Lion. But I think it's a scam.' That was my first initial reaction because I'm like us. Small mom and pop?" Akilah said.

But it wasn't a scam. And now, you can buy the seasoning at your local Food Lion.

"It's surreal when you look at it because that's really us. We are a mom and pop. And the foundation is love," Zane said.

You can find Zane Gray Vegetable Seasoning at a Food Lion near you in the Local Goodness section.