Ravalli Republic from Hamilton, Montana • A6

RAVALLI REPUBLIC A6 Ravalli Republic, Saturday, July 8, 2017 Your source for all Bitterroot Valley events! music arts sports food, wine beer education government school, youth special events brought to you by in partnership with bitterrootevents.net Home KitcHen tHymes anD collectibles Vera braDley swiss DiamonD le creuset more! 363-1733 209 W.Main www.robbinsonmain.com Discover The Art Of Flavor! NOW Olivelle is a gourmet company based out of Bozeman, Montana with a European touch, specializing in oils, vinegars, and fine foods imported from around the globe. Their goal is to evoke a passion for food and flavor through the use of quality ingredients. and try a variety of flavors of olive oils and other gourmet products! Come in robbins on main LUCY TOMPKINS LUCY.TOMPKINS@MISSOULIAN.COM Every Friday, Olga Babak and her mother Natalya bake through the night to prepare for the Saturday Market. From scratch, they bake cream cheese buns, cannoli filled with sweet cream, poppy seed rolls, marzipani pastry dough rolled up and filled with Nutella and other Russian baked goods. Early in the morning, after hours of baking, Natalya sends Olga to bed for a couple of hours of sleep.

She works through the night so that the pastries are fresh for the market, the way her cus- tomers like them. When Olga gets up, she takes over, sending her mother to rest, even if Natalya insists she yet fin- ished all the cinnamon rolls. Since she was 8, Olga has stood behind the Babak booth at a Missoula farmers mar- ket, first the Missoula Farmers Market and now the Clark Fork Market, first selling vegetables, and then switching to her pastries. parents and grandpar- ents speak fluent English, she said, so she learned early on to explain to Missoulians what each traditional Russian recipe contains. Born in the United States to immigrant par- ents from Ukraine and Belarus, Olga seamlessly transitions between speaking in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and English.

In her brain, the four languages comple- ment each other and often mix all four of them in one conversation, she said. Now 20, responsibilities have grown from managing a small booth at the Clark Fork Market to running only Eastern European market: Bakery and Deli Mart. The store, located on West Broadway, still car- ries all the same pastries the family is known for selling at the market. Only now they also carry Russian can- dies, beverages, kielbasa, cheeses, spicy babushka pickles, drakini a meat- stuffed potato pancake Russian bread, and more. you see here is kind of like my come home from fourth grade, and I have black bread on the table with borscht (a beetroot Olga said.

just what I grew up with. And even now, what I In the 1980s and a handful of Belarusian families fleeing religious persecution resettled in Missoula. par- ents fled their countries separately, and met in Washington state. When sister moved to Missoula, where host families helped arrange English classes for immi- grant families, she and Igor followed, and mar- ried soon after. Despite the well- established community of eastern Europeans in Missoula, there many many food options that reflect their heritage.

Before the Babaks opened their store in May, members of Slavic community had to travel to Kalispell or Washington to shop at an Eastern European market. Olga said people often come in and fill their baskets to the brim with groceries. used to having to shop in bulk for these ingredients. a luxury to have them 15 minutes away instead of three hours. know, you can come back tomorrow if you need Olga jokes.

Beyond the ben- efits to Slavic community, the store introduces Missoulians to foods and customs with which they might otherwise be unfamiliar. Cathy Mae Carter, who works at the front coun- ter at Butterfly Herbs, recently started shop- ping at Bakery and Deli Mart. She knows she be able to visit Eastern Europe any time soon, but the market gives her a taste of differ- ent parts of the world. low-budget travel plans involve renting for- eign films with subtitles, going to markets and reading books, and how I learn what the rest of the world is Carter said. When Carter moved to Missoula in 1998, there was one sushi restau- rant and one Mexican restaurant, and neither compared to the afford- able and authentic gro- ceries and restaurants in Vancouver, where she lived before.

Since the Babaks opened their store, Carter has shopped there several times, often asking for recommenda- tions, since most of the packaging written in English. She loves the spicy babushka pickles, farm- cheese, red currant juice and rye bread. really excited for them, and I think people need to step out of their safety zone and try some- thing Carter said. If all goes well, Olga plans to begin providing hot lunch in the market in the next few months. Both her parents have put Olga in charge of the store, and while her mother spends most nights baking, Olga is, in a sense, the bosswoman.

busier days, slower days, but for the most part I think still Olga said. you can only go up from Eastern European bakery and deli introduces new foods to Missoula Rebekah Welch photos, Missoulian Olga Babak carries a tray of her homemade scones and poppy rolls in her new store, Bakery and Deli. Half-Belarusian and half- Ukrainian, Babak manages the Russian and Eastern European specialty goods store at 20 years old. The Babak fresh- made fruit tarts sell quickly at the Clark Fork Market on Saturdays..