KATE GRATER
Which culture are you from?
I’m Jewish Canadian – I’ve just done a DNA test! I’m as Jew as Jew can be on my dad’s side, but my mum raised us in the Christian church.
What do you miss?
In Vancouver’s commercial district there’s the famous clamato juice, which is clam juice mixed with vodka and a garnish – it’s hair-ofthe-dog stuff. I miss the variety of authentic pockets around Vancouver, like Chinatown and the East Indian village.
What holiday traditions and foods do you partake in?
I struggle being abroad when it’s Thanksgiving in late November. I love pumpkin pie and we do mashed yams with cinnamon and marshmallow toasted on top!
My mum raised us and we were all about Christmas – candlelight tours, making snowmen, decorating, carving pumpkins (and trying to eat the seeds, which were gross), church, carols. I try to recreate that for my son by throwing open our doors and hosting gatherings. Last year we did vegan festivities and there were 20-plus kids.
I like making useful gifts that feed people and are paperless, like Moroccan spices in jars. What do people love about your cooking? Pierogi is a Polish food but with our long history of immigration, it’s so common in Canada that there’s a movement to label it our own – kind of like sushi is in New Zealand. Dumpling variations are common in Eastern Europe; it’s essentially peasant’s food, a plant-based dough that’s cheap and cheerful.
Some people are just so happy to get pierogi! Canadians, Americans, Poles who grew up on it and people who’ve sampled it on their travels. A Polish businessman wanted to treat his clients to food from his culture, and I’ve had one guy tell me I’m in his will! Job satisfaction is pretty high.
People are such foodies. We offer 20 different flavours and uptake always increases around holiday season – the dishes never end!
Biggest 2021 learnings?
It’s overwhelming to just start up, but this is my craft, it’s my thing. You can change your life. As a small business there are growing pains, but when you get 60 emails coming in from people all around New Zealand saying they want to order pierogi, that’s exciting.
I’ve learnt to take advice when experienced people offer it, and to have a Covid plan (we can always change if needed).
What’s afoot for 2022?
I’ve had a few goes at making the Pierogi Joint work and I keep bouncing back because I know I have something people want. We’re at the peak for what we can do with one person pinching pierogi, but the new machine we’ve imported will enable us to meet demand and work on an economic scale.
Food is part of my heritage and I love events. I’ve done a couple of midwinter Christmas events that attract a lot of Canadians! We do cooking classes, birthdays and staff events. I hope we can be involved with more community events, like the Dumpling Market. The festival season has been pushed back so that will keep us busy right through to autumn.