Laura Kitamura, who is behind the instagram account Sliced Ginger, has now started to sell her specialty vegan and gluten-free donuts, and is popping up this weekend in the Beaches.
Her go-to flavours are a blend of her own identity as a half-Japanese and half-British person, which allows her to create desserts that not only taste delicious, but that represents her as a person. Her donut flavours vary from Peach Coffee Cake to Matcha or Blueberry Lavender. Kitamura focuses on using healthy and nutritious ingredients for those who may have health or dietary restrictions or any food allergies. What matters for Kitamura is that individuals with health restrictions can still enjoy a tasty, indulgent dessert.
Kitamura always enjoyed cooking, but what inspired her to take it seriously was when she was in her early 20s and started having health problems that conventional doctors couldn’t explain. She then turned to natural medicine and studied holistic nutrition, which led her to learn how to cook. At the time, she was vegan, so she enrolled in a vegan cooking school––the School of Natural Cookery––located in Boulder, Colorado.
Kitamura shared that it was a fantastic school that taught her how to cook through technique and intuition. She then came back to Toronto and tried working a few jobs in the culinary world––none of which she really enjoyed––before going back to her previous job as an aesthetician, which she quickly realized she didn’t particularly enjoy either.
After some thought, she started a food blog and took a few personal chef clients, which made her feel she was in the right place. During the pandemic, her workplace closed and it finally gave her the time to focus entirely on creating recipes and so she started to sell baked goods from home.
Kitamura agrees that anyone who bakes vegan and gluten-free knows that it can be quite a challenge. Her secret is to use a blend of flour and typically, almond flour is her go-to. She also bakes the donuts instead of frying them because she prefers a soft cake-like texture and of course, they’re healthier. There’s not a lot of options for vegan and gluten-free baked goods––according to Kitamura, the existing products that are store-bought are made with lots of additives, so she knew how important it was to provide desserts made with whole, healthier ingredients.
Sliced Ginger creates new donut flavours every season. She wants to continue making donuts for a while, since there has been a great response thus far. In the near future, Kitamura will be selling handmade lollipops that will be great for gifts and parties or events when those start up again soon.
Donut drop offs will be in the Beaches for weekdays or weekends and she currently sells a box of six for $25 and 12 for $45. To orderm contact Sliced Ginger on their social media.
