How I started my pastry journey?

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get until you give it a try

If there is a phase that best describes me, it`s the one written above.

Hi, my name is Boyana – people call me Bo (not a spooky Boo :D). Thank you very much for dedicating your time to read my story. I am starting this blog journey with the idea to get to know people, to overcome some fears I have and, also, to let people know me- my personality not just my small business.

When did everything started?

Well, the quickest answer would be “I don`t know”. Pastry has always been a huge passion for me- since the time I was playing with sand, making sand cookies and cakes, and then selling them to the parents around. I loved playing cooking games. I loved spending time in the kitchen with my grandmother and mother. I even had my own game, called “chef Boyana”, where I was taking whatever I found in the kitchen drawers, mixing it together, playing with it as it is clay, platting my dish and then presenting the story of my dish to my parents. As you can guess, they weren`t impressed by what I had made for them :D

I consciously started baking on my own when I developed and eating disorder. At that time I had a successful dancing career. I was winning national, international and world dance competitions, I was invited to dance at gala events, I was giving interview at TV shows- I was glowing. But this came at the cost of my mental health, in particular, the pressure and emphasize on my diet and body composition. I know this is an unpleasant, even boring topic to most people but it actually benefited me, and I am thankful for this.

Food was a big obsession of mine- and it still is. At that time I was satisfying my hunger by watching photos, TV cooking shows and reading food blogs. I was feeding myself with all these amazing photos and stories, and food inspiration.

Because I was starving, the hunger made me think of food 24/7. I was constantly thinking of ways to make my favorite, high-caloric food “diet”, “sugar free”, “carbs free”, “less fat”, “more protein” and etc (the labels are endless), so that it can fit in my diet even as small portions. I can say that this is the very beginning, the very UNCONCIOUS beginning of my interest towards food science. And when I say “food science “, please, don`t understand only food chemistry, biology, analyses and epidemiology. Food science also includes “food reformulation”, which is something I am very passionate about. Maybe this is the reason why I enjoy making vegan chocolates so much- the challenge of making it taste better than its normal version.

How I started my bakery business?

I couldn`t eat bakery goods but I badly wanted to make them. I came with the solution to start baking and gifting the food to friends, relatives, families, whoever want to have them. Starting with cupcakes, then bite-sized cakes, then bigger cakes- people get to know me from mouth to mouth. I soon begun to receive a custom orders for cookies and cakes, and this is how my “solution to the above problem” transformed into a cake business.

And yes, I truly loved the hours spent making all these sugar figures and seeing smiles on my customers faces. I still want to do this but my current business is entirely online and I am able to get a feedback only if you contact me or leave a review.

What happened next? Why I came to England to study Nutrition and Health instead of pastry?

Part 2 is coming.... (Im just a slow writter )