DIALOGUE WITH JANA ZUMBAUM

If you live in Barcelona, ​​you've probably had the chance to try some of Jana Zumbaum's creations. With her project Más Meriendas , Jana supplies sweet treats to specialty coffee shops throughout the city. Her cookies, cakes and granola bars have become the inseparable companions of a good coffee. She also prepares cakes for parties and celebrations, delicious and beautiful and decorated with edible flowers and lots of love.

Thanks to her other project, La Mesa , created in collaboration with her friend Mariló, Jana brought us back to our childhood last year with a recipe for Lyonnaises to make as a family. (You can remember it in the following link)

Today we wanted to share Jana's project with you and introduce you to the woman behind every sweet bite.

How did Más Meriendas come about? What led you to start your own project?

Without a doubt, it was motherhood that made me change direction, my rhythm, and my life really. I am an architect by training, but suddenly I felt that I wanted to connect with what I have always liked, to conceive and manage it myself, and to be able to combine it with my new responsibilities as a mother. Más Meriendas was born like that, very small and silent, and in a very organic way, it grew with me. I started working from the kitchen in my house, and now I have been running my own workshop for three years. I allowed myself to be like that, and although it sounds more idyllic than it is - it is still a lot of work to have your own business - I would not go back.

Was there a turning point that led you to leave your career as an architect to devote yourself to cooking? What advice would you give to someone who wants to make a similar change?

The truth is that I found my architectural studies to be very long and hard. I didn't find the space to be creative or develop my own style of working, or the freedom I needed. But it was only after finishing them, and during my first pregnancy, that I stopped to think about what I really wanted to do. Looking back now, maybe I could have had that moment earlier, but I needed that strong change in myself for it to happen. So I am grateful for everything I learned in my studies, even though I have since changed direction, and I can't advise anything other than to trust in life, not to be afraid, and above all not to lose connection with yourself and to listen internally. Work has to fit into your life, and not the other way around.

What flavors remind you most of your childhood?

It's a cliché, but it has some truth to it; in Germany, cakes and snacks are very important in everyday life. My mother skips lunch when she can so she can have a snack later. I don't take it that far, and I'm quite picky about sweets; but the smell of a freshly baked cake, with toasted hazelnuts and chocolate, for example, or some buttery biscuits, connects me a lot with my childhood. Another thing that I love and that I always bring back from Germany whenever I can is rye bread full of seeds. And I eat it with lots of butter. I could have perhaps simply answered, butter :)

When you imagine your “perfect” dining experience, what’s the soundtrack that plays?

It depends a lot… when I’m decorating a cake, I like to listen to Belle and Sebastian for example, music that cheers me up and makes me sing. If I’m sitting enjoying a perfect meal, I’d almost say I like silence, or maybe a piano in the background, Bill Evans style. There’s a lot of noise all day, between the oven, the city, the kids… so I like to tone down the stimuli when I can, and concentrate on just one thing!

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