The Owatonna Farmers Market specializes in connecting shoppers with hyper-local goods, but Haydee Magaly Segura Adame has crossed the globe on her way there.
The international chef began selling baked goods at the farmers market last summer, not long after moving to Owatonna.
Her path here was anything but direct.
Adame’s career began in her native Mexico City, where she attended culinary school and ran a restaurant. While there, she met her husband, who hails from Norway. They moved to Norway, where she operated a catering business. After about four years, he asked his company for a transfer so they could live closer to her ailing father in Mexico. That landed them in Plano, Texas, where they lived for nine years before relocating to Owatonna.
She’s comfortably settling into her new surroundings.
“It’s a pretty nice place. People are very warm, very welcoming, very kind also. Very different from Texas,” she said.
While she had little contact with her neighbors in Texas for all nine years, she felt welcome in Owatonna almost immediately. In a moment she likened to a scene straight from a Hallmark movie, her neighbor dropped by with a plate of cookies during her second week in town.
She cited the variety of public events and historic buildings as some of her favorite things about Owatonna. While bundling her two sons up for the winter has been a new experience, she said her time in Norway had prepared her well for the weather.
Adame bakes around 30 loaves of bread ahead of the farmers market each Saturday. If a customer is looking for something she doesn’t have available, she often offers to take pre-orders. While she specializes in sourdough, she sells a wide array of international treats as well.
In yet another international twist, she gave her cottage bakery a French name — Mon Ferment — hearkening back to France’s long tradition of baking. In addition to her credentials as a chef, she also carries a degree in graphic design, which she calls upon when carefully arranging her stand at the market.
Her offerings there include a bread bag that bears a logo created by her 10-year-old son Christian, a budding artist.
He’s enjoyed exploring the area around Owatonna since moving here.
“I like that there’s a lot more forest here than Plano,” he said.
Adame also runs a Spanish language cooking channel on YouTube , which she started after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted her catering work in Plano.
She continues to post Mexican recipes on her channel, and also offers chef at home services and cooking classes. Earlier this year, she taught a charcuterie class to students at Owatonna Middle School.
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