Founder of Batter Bakes, Siphilele Magagula👩🏾🍳 AKA Sips, shares her start up story as well as how she’s encouraging the local market to make batter food choices😋 Batter Bakes informally began trading at the Ekuphileni Farmer’s Market in October 2018, and began doing deliveries with Farm to Table in November 2019 and the business was formalised on the 13th of May, 2019.
What gap does your establishment fill in the local market?
Healthy baked goods and confectionery that are free from allergens (gluten, lactose and refined sugar) but not free from taste!
I fell sick in 2018 and had to cut out a lot of foods from my diet due to my gut illness which made me allergic to a lot of things, from acidic foods, gluten (found in wheat, rye and barley) to sugar. I found it hard to find things as simple as breads so I embarked on a journey to create my own. I then thought – perhaps others are facing this issue, which prompted me to take Batter Bakes to the streets!
I found that a lot of people are living with special dietary needs and also many are looking for delicious, yet healthy, fresh and preservative free options – which are not easy to find. So Batter Bakes is here to make sure that you can still have your cake and eat it (sans guilt) and that no one ever feels left out at the dinner table.
What’s your food specialty?
We offer a wide range of healthy choices that are free from: gluten, lactose and refined sugar, we also offer vegan and nut free choices, we can also tailor our offerings to suit your needs. We have delicious breads, confectioneries, pizza bases, vegan ice cream as well as special requests. Our goal is to change the way health is perceived by making healthy food choices desirable, attainable and a part of our culture. Our popular offerings are our banting range of breads, cookies, brownies and recently doughnuts (which are available at The Health Shop in Ezulwini every Friday and now Saturday)!
Who and what influenced your love of food and cooking?
My mother taught my brother and I how to cook from an early age and I fell in love with it as an adult. I often dream up flavour combinations and create dishes from imagination – for example my friend was hosting a dinner party and a friend who is a vegetarian was attending so I dreamt up a casserole dish with eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas, fresh garden herbs, cumin, balsamic vinegar, a bit of curry and topped it all with feta. It was a crowd pleaser!
My mother cannot eat food with spices so that challenged me to learn about flavours and how to make delicious food with very little ingredients. I also lived abroad for many years and that exposure to international dishes and flavours gave me a wealth of culinary knowledge, which I often borrow from when coming up with meal ideas. It also influences the type of offerings I introduce to the Batter Bakes menu.
What flavours appeal to you?
Ooh, this is tricky! Culturally, I love French, Spanish and Asian foods, specifically Japanese. Simple flavours appeal to me. Simple yet rich combinations, the more fluff you add – the pure flavours get lost. For example, you won’t catch me eating those elaborate fried sushi rolls, give me a simple tuna roll with freshly caught tuna and a swig saki and I’m good.
Otherwise savoury foods are my favourite, although lately I love a combination of sweet and savoury – a sharp cheese (yes I am lactose intolerant but cannot resist a spread of good cheeses) with grapes or figs, a scrambled egg with a touch of chutney or lamb with a mustard sauce with honey. I recently made pork with an applesauce and it was delicious! I’m also obsessed with anything pickled – artichokes, olives, gherkins, pickled ginger (usually served with sushi) and Korean pickled veggies – give me all of it!
In my kitchen cupboard you’ll always find…
Gluten free flours of all kinds, 75%+ dark chocolate, xylitol, apple cider vinegar, chickpeas, black beans, chutney, soy sauce, dried herbs and Aromat😀
At restaurants, I always order…
Normally a salad or bunless burger, there aren’t many options really – oh and sometimes breakfast no matter the hour.
Who are your culinary heroes?
It is weird if I say I have none? I follow some food blogs but I do not have a hero, I’m just inspired by cultures and their flavours, not necessarily public figures who rework them. I do like singer Jesse Ware’s podcast – Table Manners – where she interviews various celebrities and cooks them meals with her mum, you learn a lot about various flavour combos.
Favourite local dish(es) to eat?
Kwangekhatsi – although I haven’t had it in YEARS! Our House Manager also likes adding inkaka in veggies and soups she makes for herself and I love it! I forgot to add I love a bit of bitterness and a kick in my food – just can’t have chili anymore. I also love bean soup (not sure if emabhontjisi is traditional?)…Hmmm oh and I LOVE simple boiled beef, with some stock, leeks and a bit of garlic, although I only eat beef sparingly.
What are your thoughts on events such as The Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival?
I think this year’s event had a different, more communal and easy going vibe, ample seating which facilitated more socialiasation.. I didn’t experience much of it though as I was manning my stall but it seemed like a good cohesive layout (I studied Interior Architecture so am very spatially aware).
I do feel though that it is a great initiative but falls short of amplifying the culinary experience that the foodie in me craves. It feels more like a mini Bushfire – a fashion and music event featuring food stalls and some food demos. I feel a lot more attention needs to be paid on how to create an educational foodie experience…but it’s still early stages, there might be more in store.
Future culinary plans?
Well Batter Bakes has a lot of exciting plans in store, just a matter of time, learning and experimenting as well as funding but we will get there. Our main goal is to make healthy foods more accessible to all and change the narrative that healthy food is not tasty and is expensive and exclusive to a certain tax bracket – we are working on a means to change that and to better educate the nation on making Batter Choices.
We want to have a physical structure in the next year or two to really give the people of Eswatini a taste of the Batter Life, a place where it’s a full immersive experience where you come out feeling ‘batter’ than when you entered. Where inclusivity reigns supreme – we’ll be hiring marginalised groups and celebrating difference and using good, healthy foods to bring people together from different walks of life.
To order your next batch of healthy goodies, you can get in touch with Sips through the following social media platforms👇🏾
FB: facebook.com/batterbakess/
IG: instagram.com/batterbakess/
Twitter: @bakes_batter
