Talofa lava,
I was born in the 1990s in a beautiful small village on the east coast of Savai‘i in Samoa. Oh, the good old days!!!
Back then, if you wanted freshly made bread or panipopo, you had to wait by the roadside with your coins in hand for the van that delivered them every morning. It was part of our daily routine, children watching the road, listening for the sound of the van approaching, hoping it wouldn’t pass us by.
I remember one particular morning when my mum gave me some coins to buy bread for our school lunch. Instead of waiting patiently, my friends and I ran off to play rugby while we waited for the bread van. Somewhere between the laughter and the game, I lost some of the coins. By the time we realized the van had already come and gone, it was too late. We didn’t get the bread.
My mum was disappointed. That bread was meant for me and my four siblings for school. It wasn’t just bread; it was our lunch.
Luckily, at my school, there was a lady who sold freshly made panipopo. Oh my goodness they were the best panipopo I had ever tasted. If my memory serves me right, one bun cost about 20 sene. It was soft, sweet, soaked in rich coconut sauce, and tasted like pure comfort. I can still remember the flavor so vividly to this day.
Fast forward to today, here I am, making Panipopo myself and sharing them with my customers.
Our Panipopo baking mix now makes it easy for anyone even those with no baking experience to enjoy the true taste of Samoa. Every batch brings back beautiful memories of childhood, family, and simpler times. And that is what makes Panipopo so special to me.