Meet Tomo Honda | Baker/Wife & Mother

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tomo Honda and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tomo, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In 2002, my husband’s job brought our whole family from Japan to California. As a cooking and baking enthusiast, I was very excited to be in Los Angeles since it was known for a melting pot of all kinds of international cuisines. I have been learning various kind of dishes I never experienced before. After scouting around Los Angeles for some time, I realized that I couldn’t find Japanese style breads I love anywhere near by. This led me start baking breads again. I shared a variety of Japanese breads to my friends and neighbors from time to time and to my surprise, the feedback consisted of my bread having a softer, sweeter, and richer taste. My friends and neighbors wanted more, and I saw this as an opportunity to perfect my different kinds of recipes. Soon after, many of my friends suggested me to start my own bakery. At the time, I was a housewife who didn’t have much knowledge on starting a business, so opening up a bakery right there did not seem achievable. Instead, I decided to start a small business bakery, Tomo’s Family Kitchen, and to see where this would lead me to.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of my passions is to create my own recipes. My second son’s egg allergy since his born brought me to a new challenge of making breads and desserts without egg, but to make it taste just as great as regular ones. When he was five years old, he said at his friend’s birthday party, “Mom, I wanna eat that delicious cookies like everyone does.” that made me feel very sorry for him. The strong wishes to help him led me come up with a special eggless cookie that tastes just like the regular ones. The original non-egg recipe was a big success. How he enjoyed the cookies for the first time with a big smile on his face was unforgettable. Nothing makes me feel better than seeing my son’s happy face.

Next I tried to make a bread without eggs. Among many attempts I found that using soy beans as a substitute of egg would work very well. Refinement of ingredients went beyond just making non-allergen bread this time. The new soy-based Okara bread brought new flavors and a moist chewy texture, that established a new type of Okara bread -Okara is soy pulp in Japanese. This was a big hit! Not just people who have egg allergy but everybody liked the one of a kind. Ever since, full vegan Okara bread became one of my signature breads. This sets my second passion to create new breads in order to work around the people who have food allergies

Creating new recipes for me is not just to find out substitutions but also to use healthiest ingredients available. For example, my whole wheat bread is made from freshly milled flour. Delicious and healthy is the concept of my creations because this is the foundation of happiness I believe.

As my menu grows, I started participating pop-up events. Participating such places gives me opportunities for many people to try my breads, helping the words spread. Last August, I was able to co-found a small community of pop-ups, Angel’s Market, where creators bring their own specialty products of all kinds. Forming such a group of creators draws opportunities to collaborate with other creative events. It’s great to see the community grow. It has become my passion to grow such community. Products with a creator’s face behind it makes that product more meaningful. Primitive concept of market brings people together, know each other, and love each other. I hope my bread creations brings a joy to people’s daily life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would start a day with a breakfast at the Metro Cafe in El Segundo consisting of a warm french toast topped with sweet fresh berries and a cup of coffee to relax. Then I would take them through Main Street down to the beautiful Library Park. After spending time relaxing in the park, I would bring them to The Point El Segundo for shopping and a lunch. After a hardy meal of burgers, I would drive them south along the beach cities for them to experience what Southern California is like. The beautiful ocean view with the ocean breeze is always appreciatable. We would then drive up to the Point Vincente Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes for a scenic hike with a greater and spectacular ocean view. Our day would end with a sunset dinner at one of the restaurants on the top of the cliff.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My biggest shoutout goes to my husband, Jun, who has been supporting me from tasting prototypes, taking products’ photos, to mentoring business advices. As a power engineer behind the scenes he helps find me best equipment, keep it well maintained, and repair them as needed. I couldn’t be here without his continued encouragements and supports. I can’t appreciate it enough. Thank you so much, Jun!!

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tomofamilykitchen