Meet Marianna of Spanish Kitchen:
Much like the farmers’ market itself, Marianna Molinaro’s business has come a long way in the past four years.
Marianna recalls the market having a different complexion her first summer there. For one, she explains, there were only a handful of vendors, and the crowds turning up on Wednesday evenings were much smaller.
What she was selling was also different. In her first foray into preparing and selling food to the public, Marianna was offering Spanish and Argentine baked goods.
Born in Madrid and raised in Buenos Aires, Marianna saw opportunity in bringing the popular treats of her childhood to Calgary. Using recipes and techniques passed down from her mother, Marianna turned her home kitchen into a bakery.
Friends, family and anyone else who tried Marianna’s baking embraced the delicacies. But sales at the market were still slow. The unfamiliar food wasn’t attracting enough adventurous Calgarians.
Not wanting her dream of running her own food business to fizzle, Marianna knew she needed to shift focus. Towards the end of her first summer at the market, she began offering what is today her signature item: the widely recognized empanada.
Every culture seems to have its own variation on a pastry packed with savoury treasures. In Spain and Argentina, spices, cheese, meat and veggies are stuffed inside a thin crust to form the empanada. Marianna knew this combination well and set out on perfecting it.
At first, Marianna sold frozen empanadas for market goers to take home, thaw and cook themselves. Within a month it was clear that the convenient, flavourful pockets were a hit. The success had Marianna looking to expand.
As she saw it, restricting her business to frozen empanadas meant missed opportunity. She identified that there weren’t a lot of ready-made food items for market patrons to snack on while they perused vendors’ stalls, so she also began selling fresh, hot empanadas.
Today, you can find Marianna selling chicken, beef or vegetarian empanadas year-round at the market. Burgers and fresh lemonade have also worked their way onto her menu in the past couple of years. And while these items diverge from the traditional Spanish/Argentine theme, Marianna says her business still has a central concept: offering delicious, homemade, healthy food.
