Butcher, baker, bombolini-maker

continues his mission to visit every food truck in Marlborough. This week he catches up with Frederick Roubos of de Brood Bakker’s.

De Brood Bakker’s does food for the soul, although maybe not the waistline.

But what does that matter when you bake fresh every day and use time-honoured European baking practices?

Life is for living, and sensory organs are there for a reason.

The European-style bakery has been operating in Marlborough since 2000, and since then their profile has been on the rise.

The Dutch-owned bakery used to operate from a small store front on Moran St in Redwoodtown, but they have since moved to a fully functioning food truck parked beside butchers, Meaters of Marlborough, on Maxwell Rd.

Owner operator Frederick Roubos says the location is pretty poetic.

‘‘I wanted to be a butcher like my grandfather when I was young to be honest,’’ Roubos says.

‘‘But he told me ‘no no’, that was too much hard work.

‘‘When I discovered baking, though, something just clicked. I don’t know what it was. I suddenly was doing something I enjoyed, and I understood exactly what was happening ... like a connection.

‘‘Even though I wasn’t very good at it at first, I really enjoyed it.’’

Roubos started baking at the age of 12, in Rotterdam, learning his craft in school and working at a bakery at night, he says.

‘‘On Saturdays I would get a couple of hours sleep, and Sundays – I was just toast.’’

And while other foodies are getting down with organic and raw, de Brood Bakker’s still offers up traditional baked goods the way it’s supposed to be.

‘‘We have a lot of things that you won’t necessarily find in the mainstream ... People can try them and think that’s quite cool.

‘‘Everything is down to taste,’’ Roubos says.

‘‘We started off with the bombolinis, and we didn’t really advertise them. People have just caught on.’’

What’s a bombolini? Oh, only a soft round ball of pastry heaven - Italian doughnuts that are fried, coated in granulated sugar, and traditionally stuffed with pastry cream.

You have to get them just right, and de Brood Bakker’s gets them just right.

But running a food truck does have its challenges, Roubos says.

‘‘The weather. I mean if it rains sideways we feel it. And the wind is strong, it can really shake things.

‘‘But [the food truck] certainly has a quirk appeal, more so than bricks and mortar … And people drive past and toot or wave.

‘‘I love looking at this and thinking, ‘wow, just 16 months ago, this was just a truck’.’’

DAVID JAMES/STUFF Owner operator Frederick Roubos Artisan baker Frederick Roubos outside his de Brood Bakker’s food truck in Blenheim.