Canberra's multicultural community has built up a rich food scene, a process that isn't easy, but has big payoffs for the city.
Fiona Hall and Lisbeth Gomez are among swathes of Canberrans who have enriched the city by sharing authentic dishes from their cultures.
Since migrating to Australia in 2004, Ms Hall has struggled to find the food which mostly strongly evokes thoughts of home.
"I grew up in Germany having two pretzels every day for recess, that is part of my going to school in Germany experience," she said.
"That's a very common story because you have a bakery around every corner in Germany, so you just sort of drop in, grab a roll and then go to school from there."
Most Australians are familiar with the Bavarian style of pretzel, but Ms Hall, who hails from the neighbouring southern German state of Swabia, is offering another twist.
She sells the Swabian style of the traditional baked good, which differs in the way it's sliced, as well as Laugenbroetchen, bread rolls made from the same kind of thick dough as pretzels.
"I migrated back in 2004 as a student, and I just I've just never been able to find Laugenbroetchen or Brezeln [pretzels] here," Ms Hall said.
"Or if I did, I was in South Australia for about 16 years, but I'd had to drive an hour to get to Sterling where there was the only German bakery and I'm kind of sick of waiting around for other people to start selling what I love."
Ms Hall started her bakery from home in November, but is already scoping out spaces for a shop due to the limitations on selling baked goods from home.
She's been spurred on by the response she's received from patrons, seeking out the sentimental dish.
"It's been so lovely because people come into the shop and sort of go, 'Oh it reminds me of my childhood', or 'It reminds me of when I made pretzels with my grandma', and it really hits the heart."
A longing for food from home was also behind Lisbeth Gomez's decision to launch a food truck offering Venezuelan cuisine.
Ms Gomez struggled to find authentic food from her home country, including empanadas made in the Venezuelan style with corn flour, with most of what's on offer in the ACT inspired by Chilean and Ecuadorian styles.
"It's a little bit tricky to find the ingredients here in Canberra. We can find them in Sydney and some shops here, and I try to make their recipe very original," she said.
Her business will offer authentic dishes such as arepas, empanadas and cachapa.
Bringing part of her culture to Canberra meant "a lot" to Ms Gomez, but it was encouragement from friends that got her over the line.
"[They said] Lisbeth, you have to do that, because the food is so beautiful," she said.
At first she stalled, unsure about whether her English was strong enough, starting a cleaning company instead.
"I closed it because my obsession was to have a little something: streetfood," Ms Gomez said.
She's excited she'll be able to introduce Canberrans to her culture, saying: "My clients will of course be Latin people but also Australians because they like [the food]. Canberra is a multicultural city so there's a lot of backgrounds here, it is very nice for Canberra."
Ms Gomez also encouraged "people like me, women" not to shy away from starting their own businesses, the process can be fun and an opportunity to meet people, she said.
