The baker’s trade: artisanry in the age of globalisation

The baker´s work is a craft. His product is made by hand and as such contains, in a real and metaphorical way, the imprints of the culture and knowledge of the community to which he belongs. These imprints are everything that previous generations have left on each of the products that this professional makes. Although we do not see them, they are there, they remain. In other words: behind every loaf of bread, every coca, every cake that the baker makes is the legacy of our history.

Human chronology is pendular: today we are overwhelmed by the industrial productions of the consumer era. We mass-produce products with the same shape and weight, at competitive prices, in some cases incredibly attractive to look at… but with an empty soul. The opposite happens with handmade products: each piece is different, unique, and unrepeatable. It is the result of numerous conditioning factors that have a common origin: the hand and ability of the craftsman. And more people are looking for a return to the origin, to essentiality. That is why every time the baker leavens the dough, bakes it and shovels it out, an event takes place that goes beyond a purely economic action: it is an act of culture that is consummated thanks to the craftsmanship, to the knowledge that has been brought together by generations and generations of professionals who have preceded him. But the chain does not end here: the moment the customer buys it, cuts the slice, and eats it, a perfect and harmonious circle closes: from the harvest to the flour and from the bread to life.

This profession is also of major social importance. Before the day begins – when the world is asleep – the oven is silent, empty, almost inert. The baker activates the machines, mixes the ingredients, balances them in the right measure and, with the help of the fire, the miracle is worked: a perfectly imperfect, tasty, and extraordinarily healthy loaf of bread made by hand. Between artisan and industrial bread there is more than profitability, time, and quality: there is, above all, awareness. An awareness that even has a collective impact, as it contributes directly to the local economy and to maintaining the social fabric of our towns, which are becoming increasingly out of place because of the large supermarkets on the periphery.

The baker is a professional who navigates against the tide in these times governed by the immediacy of production, the standardisation of tastes and the anonymity of creators. His offer represents the opposite: the slowness of production, the excellence of the product and the unmistakable mark of the artisan. Going to the bakeries to look for ‘our daily bread’ is not only an act of recognition of a job well done in accordance with one’s own tradition: it is an act of resistance that helps to dignify one of the professions that has marked the cultural and gastronomic mood of this island since its origins.

Tomàs Vibot is a writer, researcher and disseminator of culture and heritage