All a-gourd

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2022 (1075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you can’t beat ’em, whisk ’em, mix ’em or sift ’em — join ’em.

Pumpkin spice is omnipresent this time of year, turning up in everything from beer to cream cheese to ramen noodles to Spam luncheon meat.

Still, it wasn’t until fairly recently that Yuka Katahira, owner of Yuka’s Japanese Bakery, gave the cinnamon-and-ginger-based concoction a try. Her latté must have hit the spot. Katahira, who founded her one-person operation, presently a bit of a sensation at farmer’s markets and pop-up events in and around the city, in May, has been toying around with the flavouring, ever since.

Her boyfriend told her about people’s obsession with pumpkin spice come fall, so she thought why not incorporate it into her melon buns and cream buns, Katahira says, seated on a metal stool inside Counter Space Community Kitchen, at 15 St. Anne’s Rd., where she bakes as many as five mornings a week, to keep up with demand for her products.

“Not only is it my first time working with (pumpkin spice), I only tried pumpkin pie for the first time last week.” (Gourd news: that’s a hit, too!)

Katahira, 31, was born and raised in Kamogawa, Japan, a city of 32,000 approximately 85 kilometres southeast of Tokyo. She learned how to ride a dirt bike at age five and was racing motorcycles competitively by the time she was a teenager. Three broken noses in three successive years derailed her plan to compete professionally. When she graduated from high school in 2010, she had decided a degree in child care, with an eye toward teaching nursery school, was probably a safer road to take.

Katahira completed university in 2012. She had always yearned to travel, so she packed her bags that summer, moving first to the Philippines, where she lived and worked for four months, then to Australia.

In addition to teaching, Katahira also enjoyed baking. When she couldn’t land a job in her chosen profession in Sydney, where she eventually settled, she applied for a dessert chef position at Fratelli Paradiso, a highly regarded Italian restaurant in the New South Wales capital. What experience did she have, the owner wanted to know? Only what she was turning out at home, she said. Not a problem, came his reply; she could return the following morning to train. If, by the end of the shift, she felt it was something she was still interested in, he would hire her.

“I ended up working there for a year; it’s where I gained tons of experience, plus the confidence to feel I knew what I was doing,” she says.

At some point during her stay in Australia, she became curious about Buddhism. Her mother practised the religion, but she had never given it much thought. She joined a meditation centre and learned about other spots she could go, to continue her studies.

She departed Australia for Ireland in early 2018. There, she twigged into the Soka Gakkei International Association of Canada, a worldwide organization with chapters across the country, including Toronto and Winnipeg, that, according to its literature, is “dedicated to peace, culture and education based on the humanistic philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism.”

On the move again, she relocated to Toronto in April of that same year. She wasn’t there long before she started inquiring about Canada’s permanent resident program, figuring six months, the allotted period on her visitor’s visa, wouldn’t provide her enough time to learn as much as she was hoping. People let her know it was easier to gain permanent residency in Manitoba versus Ontario, which is the primary reason she boarded a plane for Winnipeg in August 2018. (“No comment… maybe the cold,” she says with a wink, when asked why she was told it’s simpler to get PR here, versus the Big Smoke.)

She quickly landed a baker’s position at a grocery store, followed by a stint at Dwarf No Cachette, a St. Boniface eatery specializing in Japanese cuisine. She recalls being at the restaurant in the summer of 2019, when the owners arrived with their children in tow, owing to school being out. She had hopes of being a mom herself, one day — still does — and thought how wonderful it would be to have a business of one’s own, which would allow a person the opportunity to have their kids close by, if need be.

“When I look back and think of how all the dots connected toward me starting my bakery, that’s one of the final (dots),” she says.

Shutdowns associated with COVID-19 may have thrown a temporary wrench into her plans, but she used her time wisely, by working with Seed Winnipeg Inc., a program that mentors budding entrepreneurs. Confidant she had a unique product, she made her official debut in mid-May at an event sponsored by the Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba. She offered a pair of treats that evening — so-called Mt. Fuji at Night vegan cupcakes, along with anpans, a traditional Japanese pastry containing a sweet, red-bean paste inside a freshly baked sweet roll.

“Less sweet, more soft,” Katahira responds when asked how Japanese baking differs from its North American counterpart.

She currently carries 15 separate selections, including custard-filled buns, Japanese-style cheesecake and sweet rolls decorated to look like a bear, the latter of which has proven immensely popular with kiddos who drag their parents to her booth, at this market or that.

One of the venues where she’s become a familiar face is the Wolseley Farmer’s Market, which wraps up its season at the end of October. Market co-ordinator Mica Szpigiel wasn’t overly familiar with Japanese baking when Katahira applied to be a vendor in June but has since become a huge fan.

“I have tried almost all of Yuka’s baked goods and there isn’t one I haven’t liked,” says Szpigiel, who, as the founder of the specialty bagel biz, Szpagels by Mica, also knows a thing or two about baking. “Her melon buns, which taste like soft and fluffy sugar cookies, are my go-to… they’re just amazing.”

Last week, a Wolseley market regular told Szpigiel his kids make a beeline to Katahira’s booth, every Tuesday and Thursday, expressly for her take on panna cotta.

“He picks them up from school, and he has to take them directly to Yuka’s, or they won’t stop asking,” she says.

As for future plans, Katahira intends to have her own bricks-and-mortar location one day down the road. For the time being, she’s content with her present schedule, even though she rarely has a moment to herself. After baking for a couple hours in the morning, she heads to Red River College, where she’s studying business administration. Then it’s off to whatever market she’s booked at and, following that, a quick stop at the Main Street Project, to drop off whatever she didn’t sell, on a particular day.

As well, the commercial kitchen where Katahira rents space recently introduced Walk-up Wednesdays, which affords her and a dozen others the opportunity to sell their wares — bread, cookies, soup, sandwiches… the list goes on — directly to the public, every Wednesday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Winnipeg definitely feels like home now, she says, which she finds interesting because before she arrived, all she knew of the city was its association with Winnie the Pooh.

“Sure, it was a bit of a challenge at first — nobody knew me or my products — but now I have so many repeat (customers), I can’t tell you how happy that makes me,” she says. “Also, I have a very shy personality and wasn’t used to putting myself out there, so I feel I grew a lot this summer thanks to the markets and am now looking forward to bigger and better things.”

For more information, go to yukasbakery.com.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca