When he offered to help an old lady to find her bottle of Bonne Maman jam at a supermarket, little did law professor Michael Perino know that he would stumble upon a piece of history related to the brand. A tweet thread by Perino, which is now going viral, described the events that unfolded on Sunday grocery run on February 14, 2021, at a supermarket in New Jersey, United States.
A professor of Corporate and Securities Law at St.John's University, Perino offered to help an old lady who was trying to reach for a Bonne Maman bottle of jam since they were located at the back of the shelf. In his viral Twitter thread Perino said that as he handed the lady her the raspberry preserved jam, she thanked him and asked if he knew why he buys that particular brand of jam. Responding to the lady, Perino laughed and guessed because it tastes good.
But the reason was far deeper and unexpected, the woman agreed that the taste of the jams was good but she prefers the brand because she is a holocaust survivor. The statement may sound completely irrelevant but the woman told Perino that it was during the second world war that the family that owns the company hid her family in Paris. And as a gesture of gratitude and respecting the immense favour that the owners of the jam company bestowed on the asy’s family, she now always buys it. The tweet also mentioned that the woman said that whenever she goes to the store her grandkids remind her to not to forget to buy the jam.
In the following tweet, Perino clarified that the location where the old lady’s family was hidden by the Bonne Maman family might not be exactly Paris and he may have misheard the location due to the face masks that both of them were wearing. Perino also mentioned that some fact-checkers did point out that Bonne Momon was not formed until 1971, but the company that created it was founded in France in the 1950s. However, he continues to believe the lady’s story and says that she has no motive to tell a story like this to a complete stranger.
Incident in a NJ Supermarket At the supermarket today, I found a small, elderly woman standing in front of a high shelf holding @BonneMamanUS preserves. She was having trouble finding the flavor she wanted because the jars were set back on the shelf.— Michael Perino (@ProfessorPerino) February 14, 2021
1.This lovely woman had just shared a beautiful story with me. I was not about to cross-examine her on the details of it in the grocery aisle. She appeared utterly sincere to me.— Michael Perino (@ProfessorPerino) February 15, 2021
The Twitter thread has garnered over 27.7k likes as netizens react to this priceless story. Many praised the company and the delectable jams that it manufactures, while those who were not Bonne Maman’s customers before were definitely choosing to buy it now. One of the users commented on how the story brought tears to their eyes and a new customer for Bonne Maman.