Winnipeg bakery serves international pastries with locally sourced ingredients
At Gâto Bakeshop you can get a Mauritian banana tart and other vegan pastries
From croissants, to tarts and Mauritian banana tarts, Gâto Bakeshop in the West End is serving up international pastries, but with ingredients sourced from within Manitoba.
"The closest to Winnipeg is the best, and then if not, then we'll try to go sustainable, fair trade, ethical and all that," said Gâto Bakeshop owner Laura Gurbhoo, who says sustainable living extends to her life outside the bakery.
"With our life at home, we always try to reduce our carbon footprint on the daily."
Gurbhoo first launched Gâto Bakeshop at local farmers markets, and it was at those markets she fostered relationships with local food producers — which helped her source needed ingredients.
For Gurbhoo, baking sustainably means making decisions about what's on the menu based on what seasonable foods she can buy.
"So that's kind of like how we choose [to bake] something. And every product we make here, we kind of think of that first."
Earlier this month, Gurbhoo added a specialty cronut on the menu, because of a special gift dropped off from a local farmer.
"We did a caramel cronut with popcorn on it, and that was all local. This lady from a farm came in, dropped off a little bag of cornmeal, and [I said], 'oh I'll make something out of that,'" said Gurbhoo.
"It gets more interesting as the summer rolls in, of course with all the fruits, but we try to keep it seasonal, or very close [to Winnipeg]."
In addition to sourcing ingredients from Manitoba, Gurbhoo says many of her pastries are vegan. She is not vegan, but it was a decision inspired by her focus on sustainable baking.
"It just lined up with my vision of what I wanted in the bakery world, and what I saw as being the future of baking. Veganism it's very popular, it just makes sense to me right now because it's one of the diets that has the lowest carbon footprints," said Gurbhoo.
"I want to break [the stigma around veganism] and have people enjoy it and not question whether it's vegan or not and just be happy with eating it."
Gurbhoo is originally from Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. She moved to Winnipeg to become a pharmacist, but while in school she worked at French bakeries like A L'Epi de Blé and Frenchway Cafe, and fell in love with baking.
"I studied biochemistry and it was something I really liked, and I don't regret going to school at all," said Gurbhoo, who "But I just realized that what I really loved to do was baking."
Even though she's far from her home country, she serves up a taste of home at Gâto, with a Mauritian banana tart.
"It's a caramelized banana filling that you put in a pie crust — it's a total classic."
'Feel the love in the food'
Since opening the doors to the brick and mortar shop on Sargent Avenue in March, Gurbhoo says the response has been great.
"People were really happy to see someone open a shop like this here [in the West End], which was really important to me, I wanted to keep it in my area," said Gurbhoo.
"[The West End] is very diverse and interesting, like you can walk down the street and there's so many little restaurants, and they are all family-owned. You can feel the love in the food — I wanted to be part of that."
WATCH | Classic French baking that reduces environmental impact
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