When Dana Takenova moved to the United States from Kazakhstan four years ago, she found herself in Delaware, feeling like she had nothing, excepting one friendly family down the road. “Zero,” she says. But that wasn’t quite true. Takenova also had a killer carrot cake recipe. With encouragement from that family down the road, she put that carrot cake to the test in the Delaware State Fair, where it pulled down a blue ribbon not only for best cake, but best dessert in the whole fair—and not even fried. Today, Takenova enjoys being her own boss and still serves up that same killer carrot cake at the Sarasota Farmers Market, as the owner and head chef for Cuni Tuni, set up right next to the Java Dog coffee truck off State Street. “I wanted to do it because of the family and the kids,” she says of starting her own business and, in the process, setting an example. “My family was always working for someone else. I wanted to show them how to work for yourself.” A true family affair, Takenova and her husband, Arman, handle everything in Cuni Tuni themselves, with help from their young children. And the menu has expanded to include Mediterranean offerings like grape leaves with matcha rice, turmeric, pine nuts and house lemon sauce and a tabbouleh salad made with quinoa instead of bulgur, not to mention Grandma’s famous chicken and vegetable pie or the best-selling eggplant and tomato. Traditionally a fried dish, Takenova switches it up for a healthy option, baking the eggplant with olive oil and lemon sauce before wrapping a juicy tomato inside. This summer, she hopes to add more salads and cold soups.