Kraken Fighting Spirit: Staying the Culture Course

As an organization that believes in the power of storytelling, the Kraken aspires to report about the journey of our hockey team and much more. Fans can count on us to celebrate the region and its residents as we seek out unique tales showing why the Pacific Northwest is such an extraordinary place to live and root for our teams.
Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 started Sept. 15 and runs through Oct. 15 to inform and imbue the Latinx rich history and experience here in the United States. To honor its celebratory intent, the Seattle Kraken and its partner, Modelo, have joined together to fete local Latina women who are making a difference in their communities with equal parts talent and tenacity.
In the second of three parts of our "Kraken Fighting Spirit Presented by Modelo" series, let's explore the love, strength and resilient vision of two Salvadorean sisters, Ana Castro and Aminta Elgin, who have most decidedly changed the White Center neighborhood for the better and sweeter.

There is a difference between cooking and baking that helps explain how two sisters, Ana Castro and Aminta Elgin, started the Salvadorean Bakery and Restaurant in the White Center neighborhood 25 years ago and how it is still going strong today despite, recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recession of 2008.
"Cooking food is mixing your ingredients, then adding a little bit of everything, then you taste it until you think it tastes good," says Castro. "With baking, you can't miss. If you don't enough oil or egg, the bread or pastry won't rise. If you don't use salt, it won't bake golden brown."
At the Salvadorean Bakery and Restaurant-be forewarned, you will be ravenous the moment you walk in the door-Castro does the ordering and welcomes the customers ("I am more a people-person") while Elgin claims the kitchen and oven as her domain.
"My grandma was an excellent baker," says Elgin. "She taught me, 'the process of the cake or cookies needs to be perfect.' I have always wanted to open a bakery when it was the right time to take a chance."
Ana upfront running the business operations and joining community-action coalitions to support White Center, Aminta creating in the kitchen and mastering the perfect oven temperatures each for bread, cookies and pastries like her grandfather taught her in the back of their grandparents' house in El Salvador. It's arrangement the sisters decided when first imagining the dream of the a Salvadorean bakery here in Seattle to bring their native country's culture to the Pacific Northwest.
The pilot light for that dream was lit in childhood and kept flickering through hard times most of us can only imagine. Castro left El Salvador for Seattle in 1981, two years into a 13-year Salvadoran Civil War that fought between the military-led junta government and Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front from October 1979 through mid-January 1992. Castro helped her sister come to Seattle in 1985. They both worked jobs in other industries until the mid-1990s when they started the bakery with their parents and husbands as the only other helpers.
Both sisters admit to the natural homesickness, especially in the early years, one has when leaving a familiar country with family, friends and pervasive culture left behind. The bakery, restaurant and an added pantry store are intended to comfort Salvadoreans while encouraging all Seattle-area residents to try the cuisine, baked goods and cooking ingredients and spices.
Beyond that, Elgin says she worried for the Salvadorean youth who arrived in the U.S. with a steep challenge of fitting into American society. Using her share of proceeds from the business, she started soccer leagues for those Salvadorean kids and others in White Center. Her love of playing soccer and baseball as a girl ("I am so excited to learn about hockey") inspired her to offer sports as a way for immigrant youth to engage with society. She provided all the funds for uniforms, equipment and the logistics of fields and league planning.
Laughing, Elgin admits there were times when she would sneak out of the kitchen despite her sister saying "I need you here." Alongside Elgin for our "Kraken Fighting Spirit Presented by Modelo" interview, Castro smiles at the remark, adding, "yes, I did get upset sometimes."
Castro is active in the community herself. She serves on any number of White Center boards and action groups to advocate for the White Center community, which uniquely located in both the City of Seattle and unincorporated King County. She is committed to "supporting people of color" and volunteered for the Obama presidential campaigns. The sisters have long donated to local schools, support the White Center food bank and regularly donate cakes to a local senior community center for parties and "UW Latino graduates." When visited for this story and video, Elgin surprised with a "Kraken"-decorated cake that by all accounts was delicious.
Elgin says they picked the White Center neighborhood because it included the highest density of Salvadoreans, though she notes it was still not a big group of people. She estimated the Salvadorean population in the Seattle area has grown "eight times" in the last 25 years of serving papusas and other meals at the bakery and restaurant that features breakfast, lunch and dinner (currently open for takeout only).
"It hasn't been easy," says Elgin. "Many times I asked myself, 'are we going to make it?' But I always said to myself, 'If we don't, at least we tried.' I wouldn't have it in my mind that we should have opened a bakery."
The recession of 2008 was a challenge. Castro says banks with which she and Elgin did business from the start closed their account, which upset her. The sisters turned to their family for money until the bakery and restaurant could stabilize. They worked through and these days continue to support family and friends here and in El Salvador.
COVID-19 brought its own challenges, forcing Castro and Elgin to reduced their employee count, which was nearly 20 workers in early 2020. Castro says she is proud that the bakery feeds local neighbors and families, including wages for employees providing for their families' food and housing. It has been a difficult six-plus months since state and city regulations were instituted for restaurants.
"Our employees were scared we were going to close the bakery," recalls Castro. "For me, even though we are small business, we feed a lot of people. I was scared too. From war [in El Salvador], curfew meant curfew, everything shuts down. I realized we were overcoming again. It makes me emotional."
When asked what Seattle-area citizens can do for the Salvadorean Bakery and Restaurant, Castro says, "come try our food, spend some money to help us keep our employees."

One can't miss item is the papusas, a Salvadorean staple that is a stuffed tortilla (cheese, meats, and/or vegetables mixed into the dough, then fried on the grill. One sign of the sisters' success is other papusa restaurants have opened throughout the metro area, though many customers loyally travel to White Center for the original. The humble papusa is a symbol of staying the culture course for the two sisters.
"People said to us, why don't you add Mexican dishes to the menu, it will give you more revenue," said Elgin. "But I said, 'I love Mexican food, too, but I don't know it or cook it.' We want people to know about our culture through food."