Longing for SAU Bake
Hamilton Farmers’ Market vendor specializing in vegan Brazilian street food and pastries is expanding its culinary horizons.
Saudade is a Portuguese word meaning a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something.
It’s a feeling you’ll be familiar with after one bite of a SAU Bake jar cake – that longing for more.
I recently caught up with founder Matheus de Brito Brasileiro (they/them), in the kitchen of their Hamilton Farmers’ Market stall where they will be celebrating one year on Oct. 12. Brasileiro has an infectious dimpled smile that immediately draws in customers at the counter. They first became an entrepreneur in Brazil, but it wasn’t until after six years living and struggling to run the business in Toronto that they landed in Hamilton where things really started coming together for SAU Bake, which serves vegan Brazilian treats.
“I was able to expand, get more help and resources. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about Hamilton,” Brasileiro admits. “I didn’t know that I could have this community that I now have, and the support that I have. I needed Hamilton and I didn’t know it. I love being here and it feels right.” Many different market stall operators stopped by to chat in the short time I visited, and Brasileiro is clearly a beloved member of the market community. They are also a member of the Southwestern Ontario Black Entrepreneurship Network.
SAU Bake specializes in Brazilian street food and pastries. The signature item is brigadeiro, which is featured in many of the sweets. Brasileiro attempts to explain exactly what brigadeiro is: “It’s not a fudge, it’s not a ganache, it’s gooey, it’s just lovely – mind blowing.” The aforementioned jar cakes include layers of brigadeiro and cake, and are, indeed, mind blowing.
“The way we eat impacts the environment directly,” Brasileiro says when asked why they opened a vegan bakery specifically. “The earth gives us everything, and our payback is very brutal.” Studies indicate that transitioning to a plant-based diet substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water consumption, and other environmental burdens. And upon biting into a SAU soy beef pocket, even the biggest carnivore wouldn’t miss the meat. The pillowy soft dough yields to a very flavourful warm savoury filling that is similar to a gooey cheesy beef, but is something altogether different. There is no greasy heaviness to the filling of SAU Bake’s street food pastries, which include kibbeh, croquettes, and pockets.
Many of the savoury items have been packaged in frozen bulk retail sizes for sale at other businesses. Brasileiro has recently invested in equipment to increase production speed and has a vision for an expanded SAU Bake.
Visit SAU Bake at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market:
35 York Blvd, Hamilton,
and online at saubake.com
and Instagram at @sau.bake
