< Back to Oral History project: The Keepers of Kolaches: The Evolutions of Texas-Czech Baking
< Back to Oral History project: Southern Baking
ORAL HISTORY
Vatsana Souvannavong
Koala Kolache
Born in Laos, Vatsana Souvannavong immigrated to Houston with her mother at age four. As their means were limited, the foods she grew up eating were simple staples. Though she now rises at 2 a.m. to mix and prove dough, she confesses baking was something she never thought of until her first encounter with a kolache, which she remembers as “Love at first bite.” As she tells it, this taste ignited an obsession that inspired her to open a bakery of her own, and in 2017 launched Koala Kolache. Nearly six years later, she’s selling at least 1,000 kolaches a day. She has experimented with flavors both traditional and unorthodox like passion fruit, crawfish etoufee, and bulgogi and kimchi. While the work is all-consuming, Vatsana says she constantly draws energy from the joy her kolaches bring to others. Her kolaches, she mentions, “are designed to fill bellies…And hearts…”
