There’s no taste like home Classic cookbook foundation of new Mennonite restaurant By: Eva Wasney Posted: 4:48 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024

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This article was published 09/01/2024 (606 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Josh Penner isn’t a religious man, but he does follow the guidance of a revered tome.

The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, a coil-bound community cookbook, has been a primary source of inspiration while developing recipes for his new Portage Avenue takeout and catering company, Faspa.

Penner, 41, is a Red Seal chef with decades of experience running local and international chain kitchens.

When faced with the choice to continue climbing the corporate ladder or branch out on his own, he opted for the latter.

“As a chef, you go on a journey and get to a spot where you (have to figure out) what excites you and what’s your reason for cooking,” he says. “I really wanted to get remotivated and get more inspiration, so that’s where I started digging around my Mennonite heritage.”

Penner is Mennonite but had never cooked the kinds of cultural foods he grew up eating. The Mennonite Treasury offered a trove of ideas and a traditional starting point for his own creations.

“When you move out of your parents’ house, as a Mennonite boy, you get this book,” he says while leafing through the worn cookbook, which he keeps in a small restaurant library next to books on Mennonite history and a Low German dictionary.

“Almost everything (on the menu) is derived somewhat from an old Oma’s recipe.”

Penner is the sole employee of Faspa’s simple kitchen, with occasional front-of-house support from his partner. The small eatery is situated in a former florist shop on the northern edge of Wolseley. There’s a warm wood takeout counter, an espresso machine, a single chair for customer use and a framed print of the couple’s black cat, Thomas, to make the space feel like home.

Initially, the plan was to operate as a ghost kitchen and focus solely on catering. Starting small felt more sustainable, but the space’s large front window and location at a busy intersection seemed ideal for a storefront.

“We’ve been super happy because we just unlocked the doors and people have been walking in,” Penner says of the reception since opening in December.

The restaurant’s name, Faspa, refers to the communal, late-afternoon meals he enjoyed on Sundays at his grandparents’ house in Steinbach.

“Faspa is about fellowship and hanging out and gossiping. You don’t always know who’s coming by so you put out some bread and jam, pickles, meats and cheeses. I think every Menno that drives by would know exactly what (Faspa) is and I think there’s enough intrigue for people that aren’t Mennonite to want to know what it is,” he says.

More than the vareniki (dumplings) and kielke (egg noodles) served at family gatherings, Penner’s formative food memories trace back to his grandparents’ garden.

“They grew their own food to save money because that’s just what they had always done. That really resonated with me to work for your food,” he says.

Last summer, in preparation for opening Faspa, he spent multiple days a week in Steinbach reviving the large veggie patch in his grandma’s backyard. The cucumbers, rhubarb and sorrel he harvested have been turned into pickles, jams and garnishes used in the restaurant’s menu items and retail products.

He hopes to grow and preserve even more produce this year.

“Mennonite food is slow food, it’s farm-to-table, it’s grow what you grow and then preserve what you can. It’s cooking for sustenance rather than gluttony,” he says.

“Mennonite food is slow food, it’s farm-to-table, it’s grow what you grow and then preserve what you can. It’s cooking for sustenance rather than gluttony.”–Josh Penner

As a chef, Penner’s goal is to serve quality comfort food that offers an introduction to Mennonite cooking — a cuisine that has been largely absent from Winnipeg’s restaurant scene despite Manitoba’s large Mennonite population.

“I don’t think Mennonite food gets enough props. It doesn’t have to be boiled pork bone and potatoes, which is maybe what a lot of people think it is,” he says.

Opening Faspa has been an opportunity to learn more about his own background while giving customers a chance to do the same.

“There’s a whole bunch of us millennial Mennonites out here that are one generation removed from Low German being spoken in the house,” Penner says.

“We remember all this stuff, but we haven’t connected with it in a long time and that’s important to me as well.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @evawasney