You don’t have to blow on the pie in a Canadian prairie winter. Sue Hoffart catches up with a South Islander who’s selling classic Kiwi pies to the Canucks.

Last winter, Jamie Scott had to gallop four snowy city blocks while pushing a pie-filled chest freezer along sidewalks caked in ice.

What may have looked like some kind of extreme northern Canadian obstacle race was in fact a tough day at the office for the immigrant pie maker. This is what happens on a -20°C day, when the company van won’t start and a man must urgently transport his precious home-baked wares through downtown Edmonton without compromising food safety standards.

Fortunately, the appliance was mounted on wheels and Scott’s pies were eventually saved. Both the van and its owner have had to withstand far worse in the weather department – this northwestern slice of North America is not for wimps. Inner-city buildings are connected by a series of underground tunnels and overhead pedestrian walkways, designed to protect office staff and shoppers from the brutality of -30°C or -40°C when they’re grabbing a lunchtime sandwich.

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In December, the pallid sun drops below the horizon at 4.15pm and lake ice grows thick enough to support the weight of an articulated truck. On especially frigid days, radio stations broadcast helpful public announcements warning exposed skin will freeze in less than a minute. And every year, a gullible schoolchild is doused in water to unstick his tongue from the playground pole he dared to lick.

Towards the end of the outdoor farmers’ market season, snow can dust market stalls and Scott’s beard has been known to turn white while he’s selling his handmade, frozen South Island Pies to frequently bemused locals.

Edmontonians were initially mystified by the Kiwi meat pie concept. What is a potato top, they wondered? What is mince? (Oh, you mean hamburger!) Surely, bacon and eggs belong on a breakfast plate, not inside a pie? Slowly, customers began to eschew apple or pecan or sweetened pumpkin mix between pastry sheets, in favour of something savoury from that pie guy with the cute accent.

The former Christchurch printing-industry employee landed in Alberta in early May 2006 and immediately donned several extra layers of clothing as hardy residents bared arms and legs because the thermostat had just scraped past single digits. A close friend from home had lured him north with the promise of a spare room and plenty of jobs. Sure enough, the 25-year-old found the oil-rich prairie province was booming, and he easily found print work as the city emerged from hibernation.

By June that year, Edmonton was abuzz. The home-grown Oilers ice hockey team had made the national play-offs and the manic summer festival season had kicked off. While the New Zealander was delighted to discover he could drink garden-bar beer in bright sunshine at 10pm, finding a decent meat pie proved impossible. Bakeries had never heard of them and the meagre supermarket offerings were bland, mass-produced disappointments.

Within weeks, he was phoning home to ask for his nana’s bacon and egg pie recipe. He called home again for steak pie instructions, friends clamoured for more and he began to consider starting his own business.

“It took me years to figure out there was never a good time to do it,” Scott says. “I was going to end up retiring a grumpy old man because I had this dream and I never did it.”

So, in 2013, he marched off to his local farmers’ market with a small batch of pies. The ensuing years have seen his retail list grow to include more markets, food fairs, gourmet butchery stores and, most recently, the shockingly vast West Edmonton Mall. The shopping centre sprawls over almost 50 hectares and encompasses everything from sea lions, penguins and a wave pool to an ice skating rink, two hotels and the world’s largest indoor amusement park. The mall consistently ranks as the top regional tourist attraction, pulling in 30 million visitors a year – including one New Zealand-born pie-maker.

In December, Scott clocked up two new experiences. He smashed his personal baking record, filling 1200 flaky pastry shells in a single week, and he made his first moose-meat pie.