Homesick expats often complain about not being able to find comfort food from their native countries. These four women set up culinary start-ups from their kitchens to bring Shanghai's expats a taste of home.

Lexie Comstock started her cookie business in 2010. Photo: Courtesy of Lexie Comstock

Strictly Cookies

Fresh out of Harvard, American Lexie Comstock moved to Shanghai in 2010 to work in marketing but soon decided that wasn't the path for her. After two months in the city without her favorite childhood goodie, she started Strictly Cookies.

"I really missed cookies and I was sure other people were missing them too," she said. So she called her mom for a recipe and tried her hand at baking. Her friends loved her cookies and encouraged her to start selling them.

It all started as a one-woman operation out of her apartment. Comstock said the beginnings of her cookie business were intense. "It was crazy but really fun," she recalled laughing. She would wake up at 4 in the morning to start baking. "When I was done with the baking by 1 pm I would take the subway, because I didn't have money to take a taxi and deliver cookies myself to my clients," she said. "I'm really bad at directions so I would call the Shanghai Call Center and ask them how to get to different locations," she laughed.

Two years ago, together with three other homemade food businesses, she co-opened The Pantry, a co-op selling Western treats.

Initially Comstock's target customers were mainly expats, but she is seeing more and more locals enjoying her baked goods after the opening of her new shop Nom Nom Desserts this year, a collaboration with Snow Maple Desserts, which specializes in homemade ice cream and Belgian waffles. "I'm really happy how it transitioned to having more Chinese customers now," she said.

Christine Asuncion founded Spread the Bagel in 2010. Photo: Courtesy of Christine Asuncion

Spread the Bagel

Christine Asuncion, who runs Spread the Bagel, moved to Shanghai in 2008 to study Chinese and later worked for an outsourcing company, but a nine-to-five job wasn't her thing. Her idea, just like Comstock's, was born out of missing her favorite treat from home. "I grew up on bagels and couldn't find a decent one in Shanghai," said the California native. She began a delivery business selling bagels made in her Shanghai apartment. "I was waking up at 3:30 in the morning to start baking and then I would hop on my bike with a bag full of bagels and do the delivery myself," she said. "I would go to sleep early and wouldn't really have much of a social life. I had a part-time teaching job that got me by for one year." After a year Asuncion quit teaching and devoted herself full-time to Spread the Bagel. "It took a lot of time and effort but it definitely paid off," she said.

Her advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs in China? Never give up. "It's hard at the beginning but you have to force yourself," she said. "Persistence and sticking to your beliefs is what matter the most. You can have a great idea but not everyone has enough motivation. It took me two and a half years to get to this point. Just go for it. Everything is possible. There are so many possibilities in China."

Amelia Heaton-Renshaw quit her job as a racecar engineer to make jams and chutneys. Photo: Courtesy of Amelia Heaton-Renshaw

Amelia's

Brit Amelia Heaton-Renshaw's career change was probably the most drastic. In 2009, she left her job as a racecar engineer to make jams and chutneys. "I got a large sum of money at the end of my job so I had some time to play with," she said. "I realized that there were no good jams in Shanghai so I started making them at home and selling them to friends and at markets." Never having made the sweet spread before, she turned to her mother for her first recipe.

After receiving positive feedback and a lot of support, she decided to start Amelia's Jams full time. She said the most difficult part has been sourcing her ingredients. "You can't get cooking apples here, which is a good source of pectin," she said. "Making jams in Asia is much more difficult than in England."

Now her spreads are sold in 15 shops around town, plus a few restaurants and hotels. She has expanded her business to making granola bars, muesli, lemonade and more. "People don't buy jam every day so I make other products to help with the daily sales," she said. "I invested a lot of time and money into this. But it's really satisfying having your own business and it gives you a lot of confidence."

The Hummus Lady

Jen Iannuzzi, a stay-at-home mom from the US, is one of the newest entries on the Shanghai culinary scene. To her customers she is known as the Hummus Lady. She began her business last year after her failed attempts to find quality hummus in Shanghai.

Iannuzzi started with a recipe from her favorite Lebanese restaurant in the US. "It was the first time for me to make hummus here," she said. "It's quite a long process." Iannuzzi starts one day in advance by first soaking the chickpeas. "Garlic, lemon juice, oil and chickpeas are the major ingredients," she said.

She manages to make her hummus from local ingredients using Chinese sesame paste as tahini. She started with an original flavor and since then has included flavored add-ins like sundried tomatoes and roasted red pepper. Iannuzzi now sells hummus from her Shanghai apartment, markets and venues around town.

"I enjoy working for myself and I take pride in doing everything myself," she said. "I have time for my friends and my family and I can take vacations whenever I want. I feel like I can provide something to people that they were missing from back home."