MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – A local food vendor has made his way from Calumet to the City of Marquette, bringing his own unique French pastries to the Upper Peninsula. Cooking and baking can be considered art, not only because of the careful attention to detail but the skill that may be passed from generation to generation. Bryan Koppana is the owner of Moonlight Meadows and his passion for food came from his grandpa.
“He was always in the kitchen he was always baking Christmas cookies he was doing jams and jellies all the time I would pick fruit with him. He was always giving it all away and he never had any for himself and I think that if he saw me now and he saw me selling things he’d be like ‘Oh you can’t do that,” commented Koppana
Koppana brings homemade hot sauce, traditional chili crisp, and French pastries with local fruit to the UP food culture. “We like to do local fruit whenever we can in our pastries right now it’s strawberry season so we’ve got this really nice vanilla bean pastry cream which is basically a French custard and then we’ve got some fresh strawberries which we actually got from the Keweenaw,” continued Koppana.
After facing the seasonal challenges of the farming industry, Koppana chose to relocate to the Marquette area but had already been growing food that he added to homemade recipes. After leaving his established reputation, he’s growing something of his own.
“It was hard to come to that decision because we had a lot of great customers and friends and a lot of support up there, I mean that’s where my whole family is up there,” continued Koppana.
Koppana learned a lot of his french pastry skills through YouTube and said that his tendency to mix different, untraditional flavors has given Moonlight Meadows an advantage when it comes to more traditional pastries.
“I think that a lot of people like that because me personally like if I’m going into a place and I see something that sounds off the wall, I’m gonna try it,” said Koppana.
Moonlight Meadows is now baking and cooking out of the Barrel and Beams test kitchen.
Click here, to see some of Moonlight Meadows’s culinary creations.
