There are certain people in the vegan scene who remind me why I still get excited about small businesses and independent makers, and today I want to tell you about one of them.
Her name is Karina, and if you have been anywhere near Maltby Street Market over the past few years you have probably already fallen in love with something she has pulled out of the oven.
Read more below.
Karina’s journey is the sort of story that makes you stop for a moment and appreciate just how much hard work goes into these little food businesses we adore.
She told me, “I’m from Latvia and I’m a vegan baker. I moved to England when I was 20, but I didn’t speak English, so for the first three years I worked in a factory doing 12 hour shifts. But I knew someday I wanted a decent job. The main thing was not to give up.”
From there she devoured English books and learned the language through films. That’s when things began to shift. She eventually found herself working in an Italian restaurant where she met the chef who changed everything.
“I really admired Christian’s cooking, but it was his desserts that were really special,” she said. “Christian taught me to dream big and has been super supportive all through my journey.”
Inspired and determined, Karina leaned into baking just as the Covid years began. The conditions were far from glamorous.
As she explained, “At the time I lived in an abandoned house which didn’t have a kitchen, and I had to wash my dishes in the bathroom. But I bought a little oven for twenty pounds and started baking. I baked day and night after my double waitressing shifts.”
Vegan baking is famously tricky and those first attempts were rough, but Karina stuck with it. She read everything she could get her hands on and watched every tutorial available. Eventually she sold her first bakes at a local market and they did so well that she was able to move into a proper flat with a kitchen. That one little change opened the door to more orders and soon she was so busy she barely had a chance to breathe.
When she met her partner Jordan she made the leap to London. She admitted to me, “I was terrified because I’d spent my whole life in small towns, but I felt with my heart I just had to do it. It was the best decision in my life.”
London life meant early mornings pulling coffee shots as a barista and late nights still baking. The turning point came when she managed to secure a place at Maltby Street Market. Back then she arrived with just seven bakes. Today she turns up with almost fifty different items covering cakes, puddings, tarts, biscuits, savouries and the rest. And all of this was being produced in a tiny fourth floor kitchen with a single worktop and a lone oven. Can you imagine lugging boxes, tables, and a gazebo up and down those stairs every single week? And she was still holding down her cafe job!
Maltby Street became the place where everything clicked. Regulars came back. Word spread. The business grew so quickly she had to move house again, this time to somewhere with three worktops for much-needed extra space. She also finally quit the cafe job and started baking full time.
As Karina put it, “I’ve never thought that my life is hard as I always try to be positive, then again when I look back I always wonder how the hell I did all of that. But it was great and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Now she is turning her attention to the next step. People keep asking about a permanent bakery and she knows she will get there, but London prices mean that dream takes time.
“Currently I’m saving money to open my first bakery and coffee shop,” she said. “I’m dreaming big and wishing vegan food only grows and becomes more popular.”
Stories like Karina’s remind me that behind every slice of cake at a market stall is someone who has carried their entire hopes on their back to make it happen. Someone who sweated through the early mornings, the late nights, the broken ovens, the tiny kitchens and the tiny flats, all because they believed something delicious and compassionate could make a difference.
Visit Karina and her Kegarmo bakery at Maltby Street Market in Bermondsey, London every Saturday and Sunday.
Follow Kegarmo on Instagram.
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