December 25, 2015 - 4:29am
On The Meaning of Artisanal
First of all let me wish all a Happy Holiday season! The Washington Post has an interesting article on whether defining something as artisanal means that it's special. I know that this topic has been the subject of discussion before. Personally I think it's difficult to define and I use the term "handcrafted" for my own bread. Here's the link to the story:
Share
One has to wonder how much value an "artisan" facade adds to a small business. Where does their fast and trendy "act" stop and their sustainable "value" begin?
Wild-Yeast
says it all. All takes is one person to say so and one fool to believe it :-) Can't decide which one is worse!
Handcrafted, I like that!
I try to use the term "craft" when describing what I do - as in: "I run a small craft bakery". I sometimes get puzzled looks, then: "you know, artisan bread stuff" as a sort of last resort.
However I guess it depends on where you are and (to a degree) what you're doing. One shop I supply has put up a nice notice saying "Artisan bread by Moorbakes" on the shelf where I put my breads... I'm not going to change or challenge them on it - that's what they want, so that's what they get.
Some folks here (UK) are trying to get a more formal definition though - the downside is how to describe it - if you say "traditional", then the Chorleywood bread process is now over 50 years old and quite a tradition in itself... (and the UK doesn't really have a historical tradition of sourdough either!)
What I find really annoying is the supermarkets who've cottoned onto it and are using it as a marketing term more than anything else )-:
There are also "clean label" additives that claim to give your bread the artisinal look and taste - essentially either dried sourdough powder or a mix of stuff & acids... Quite depressing, really, but when you start to look at what the bakery suppliers make it just gets worse )-:
Happy festivities!
-Gordon
Unfortunately, absent government regulation, there's little reason for vendors not to use terms like artisanal and handcrafted as long as they don't stretch so far as to become fraudulent. After all, what's the down side? People who don't care or who don't attach additional perceived value to a loaf that's labelled artisanal won't buy it anyway, at least not without being given more info and/or a sample to try.
Otoh, the upside is that seeing the word will nudge some people to perceive said loaf is somehow better than if it wasn't called artisanal. They may have no idea how or why it's better - it's not as if we can expect everyone to put a lot of thought and research into which loaf of bread to buy. So, each time using particular words contributes to making some consumers more willing to buy the loaf, and presumably to pay somewhat more for it, it's a win for the vendor with, as noted above, no real down side.
There's no simple, perfect answer here, but if you want to distinguish your bread as being more artisanal than other loaves that carry the same label, the obvious approach is to make more information available to the consumers. In Gordon's example, maybe the shop would be willing to replace the current notice with one that briefly says something about what "Artisan bread by Moorbakes" actually means; e.g. made in small batches by a local craft baker using selected local ingredients, traditional methods and recipes developed specifically for the local market - or whatever else applies in this particular situation.
I was in Tesco this afternoon, and I noticed that a certain brand of Belgian chocolates were labled "Artisanal" when they are very obviously mass-produced.
I've had *real* artisanal Belgian chocolates, made on the premises in small batches with fresh cream and butter. They're a totally different animal altogether...