Baking a difference in Cape Breton.
Restaurant delivers healthy versions of desserts, breads and donairs
SYDNEY — A Nova Scotia restaurant that helps people with dietary restrictions once again enjoy things like donairs, cheesecake and a variety of baked goods will return to Cape Breton next month.
Last weekend, Locally Baked Outlet packed up a truck filled with their signature gluten-free products and took a quick road trip through Cape Breton that included stops in Sydney, North Sydney and Port Hawkesbury.
Manager Kelly Carey, who started the business with her family in 2018, said they received 65 orders on their first Cape Breton visit and they’ll return Sept. 6.
“It went really well, actually,” she said. “There’s quite a need for our products on Cape Breton, so we’re coming back in a month.”
Carey said many people from Cape Breton regularly travel to their Lower Sackville storefront to stock up on baked goods like breads, bagels and rolls, as well as desserts like butter tarts, double chocolate cheesecake, cinnamon buns and ice cream bars. They also make prepared meals like chicken cordon bleu, lasagna, chili and chowder that people can reheat and eat.
One of their most popular products is their spin on a Nova Scotian late-night classic, the donair.
“The donair eggrolls are probably the most popular. Donairs would be the runnerup,” she said. “It really is a treat for a lot of people. We hear a lot about the donairs all the time.
“We had a lady who was tickled that she could have a donair. I think she said it was 13 or 14 years since she had been diagnosed with celiac disease and she hadn’t even smelled a donair. Stories like that are wonderful to hear and we hear them all the time.”
Carey said her shop is the only one east of Ontario that specialized in foods that adhere to the rules of a ketogenic diet, making them safe for people with a variety of health problems like celiac disease and diabetes. Everything is made in a completely gluten-free kitchen, eliminating the risk of crosscontamination.
People have to pre-order through the Locally Baked Outlet’s Facebook group Cape Breton Ketoers, which can be found at the top of their main page.
Dietary restrictions have played a significant role in Carey’s life. Her late mother and grandmother both had celiac disease, a condition that prevents sufferers from absorbing the gluten found in wheat, rye, barley and other grains, damaging their intestines.
Carey also had irritable bowel syndrome and was severely overweight until her dietitian recommended she start a ketogenic diet eight years ago.
“It was a life-changer for me. I lost the weight, my IBS symptoms are obsolete,” said Carey, who began adapting her keto-friendly recipes with gluten-free dishes her family had perfected over the years.
The result is food made with natural ingredients that’s still tasty, healthy and suitable for people who follow vegan, dairy-free, paleo, low-carb and sugar-free diets.
“it’s just going back to our roots, back to our ancestors. Our great-grandfather, greatgrandmother, they knew where their eggs came from, they knew the cow their meat came off, the milk came from the neighbour’s cow. That’s what keto is — it’s going back to whole foods.
“It’s using grass-fed butter. It’s using monk fruit, which is a natural fruit — it’s not a refined sugar, it’s not mystery sugar. That kind of idea.”