April 20, 2013 - 3:09am
Hobarts being made in China?!
Check out this auction - when did Hobarts start being made in China?! Or, is this a knock-off?
EDIT: Picture of name plate saved for posterity once the auction closes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mypr117bq3cyyo1/264232802.jpg
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From the Hobart Corporation's website:
I knew about the UK ones - seen quite a few of them in this part of the world - but that's the first time I've seen one here in New Zealand which was not made in the US or UK.
Brave new world I guess.
Just curious why Hobart being manufactured in China signifies a "brave new world?"
You may be aware of one of the great 20th Century novels entitled "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. It's a satirical take on a dystopian (or possibly utopian) future. It is a somewhat known turn of phrase to use "a brave new world" to highlight a change from established social and societal practices to ones which may be dystopian, or utopian, depending on one's perspective and whether one is being satirical or not.
To wit - by referring the production of Hobarts in China, I may have been referring to the progression of our world to a more egalitarian utopia, where trade and borders are broken down, ensuring prosperity and happyness for all, as Das Kapital triumphs and we are provided with consumer goods at the cheapest possible price amid mass availability. Alternately, as many in the manufacturing sector in the 1st world would have it, such a move results in only illusory happiness, and we are in fact in a collective race to a bottomless well of our own making. From these depths, we will soon no longer be able to afford any of the marvels that capitalism is able to produce.
Yours to decide, really ;)
(one ref: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/brave+new+world)
Interesting perspective :-). I don't know if I've ever thought about mixing equipment in such terms. Origin aside, hopefully whoever buys that particular machine finds it sturdy and reliable.
If it were mixing equipment alone then"terms"might not apply but when you see it with everything that was once manufactured in first world countries providing living wages now lost, it applies.
I hope I haven't offended you. I'm not trying to trivialize the larger issue, only to de-escalate a potentially heated debate. I appreciate and respect your opinion. Happy Baking :-).
No, I was absolutely not offended! I'm sorry if I came across that way. If anything I was in the wrong. I made a bit of a political comment or commentary and this is not the place for that. My apologies to all.
Hobart has a facility in Tianjin, China...,
Wild-Yeast
According to this link (http://panjiva.com/Hobart-Food-Equipment-Co-Ltd/1124325) Tianjin is the location of the Hobart Food Corp. factory in China, which fits with the name plate. And I do have to say, the printing on that plate looks of a more consistant, aligned nature than the old Hobart plates - reflective of the rest of the mixer, mayhap?