ALMATY – For those who have a sweet tooth for fine pastries, there is promising news. Young Kazakh confectioner Sabina Tanatarova is honing her skills at France’s prestigious Le Cordon Bleu, with the goal of bringing her expertise back to Kazakhstan and helping to shape the country’s emerging pastry scene.
Sabina Tanatarova. Photo courtesy of Tanatarova.
In an interview with The Astana Times, a 20-year-old confectioner talks about turning a hobby into a profession, studying in Paris and plans to advance Kazakhstan’s confectionery scene and community.
Start of her journey
When COVID-19 hit the world, turning into months of uncertainty, many people sought the therapeutic benefits of baking. “I think that during that time, many people discovered new hobbies for themselves while sitting at home and I was one of them,” said Tanatarova.
“For me, 2020 became a point of no return in terms of my favorite activity. It started, of course, as a simple hobby – baking cakes at home when we couldn’t go anywhere. I’d just stay in, quietly baking, and soon I was doing it as often as I could. After school, I’d head straight to the kitchen to bake, until my mom’s kitchen could barely hold everything—bowls, mixers, ingredients everywhere. Eventually, we even turned another room into my own kitchen,” she said.
Tanatarova’s parents encouraged her passion from the very beginning.
“For that, I’m truly grateful to my parents—they’ve really supported me in everything I’ve done. The very first cake I ever baked was a flat little thing, from a random recipe I found on Google, not even YouTube. But they tasted it and said, ‘Wow, it’s delicious.’ I’m not sure they were being completely honest,” she said.
Upon finishing school, Tanatarova faced the decision of where to continue her education. With her passion for baking already clear, she chose to pursue pastry and began searching for the best places to study the craft.
She first studied for nine months at an academy in Switzerland, then trained in Dubai at the Four Seasons Hotel under the guidance of Nicolas Lambert, the hotel’s senior executive pastry chef. Afterwards, she went to Paris to earn a specialized bread diploma after a three-month pastry program at Le Cordon Bleu, one of the world’s most renowned culinary schools.
Sweet exchange: French techniques in Kazakhstan’s pastry world
After experiencing the pastry world in France, she said it is difficult to draw any comparison with Kazakhstan.
Tanatarova with Nicolas Lambert, Four Seasons Hotel’s Senior Executive Pastry Chef in Dubai. Photo courtesy of Tanatarova.
“It is hard to compare Kazakhstan and France when it comes to confectionery, because in Kazakhstan it’s only starting. The niche is open, you could even call it untapped,” said Tanatarova.
She has her own idea of how she wants to make pastries and where she wants to take the Kazakh pastry world.
“Right now in Kazakhstan, a new generation of young pastry chefs is driving its growth, which I find really exciting—and I’m part of that movement myself. Many of my friends are also passionate about pastry and baking,” Tanatarove said.
“Many young people are also studying in France, and I think that for Kazakhstan, this means we will eventually grow our own confectionery community. Each year we’ll see new innovations, and the quality of desserts will continue to rise,” she said.
Tanatarova enjoys preparing display desserts – those you see in shop windows. Photo courtesy of Tanatarova.
When asked about a unique speciality she has that can put her on the map, Tanatarova said she enjoys preparing display desserts. “I like individual desserts, the kind you see in shop windows. In French, they’re called petit gâteau, which translates as little cake.”
Pastries can be really refined, creative, and artistic. Through her work, Tanatarova aims to give people a different perception of what pastries could be.
“There is also entremets, a multi-layered dessert. They are particularly popular in France. The thing is, they have a variety of textures inside: a mousse texture, a crunchy texture, maybe a chewy texture, a sour texture, fruit – anything you want. Those multiple layers unfold with each bite. So it’s not only delicious but also interesting to eat,” said Tanatarova.
There can never be too many pastry shops, she said. Her plan is to gain as much experience as possible abroad and bring back the most exciting ideas and best practices to help develop Kazakhstan’s confectionery scene and build a strong community of pastry chefs.
“The plan is to develop the art of confectionery in Kazakhstan, because, as I have said earlier, this niche is still waiting to be explored, and it’s true, we need to start now, because if we don’t, who will?” she said.
