Funny how suddenly everyone’s an artisan baker
Published: 2 June 2020
In his regular feature, Denis the Dustcart talks about how buying local can have global benefits
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I had a significant victory the other day. I managed to pick up two bags of bread flour on my weekly visit to buy food. Two whole bags!
Funny how suddenly everyone’s an artisan baker, firing crusty cobs and proving sourdough starters, or whipping up endless batches of naan breads. Naan bread goes with spaghetti Bolognese, right? And ice cream?
Baking is a cathartic, sustaining experience, resulting in something that physically sustains the baker, too. No wonder it’s become a national pastime during lockdown – part of the new normal. I just hope it doesn’t end up being left in the past when things return to old-normal.
I hope it becomes part of the new everyday – or at least the ‘everyweek’.
It would be wonderful if we carried on appreciating the value to ourselves of making things ourselves – and of all things homemade, home-grown and local.
Will we always have time to make bread every other day? For the majority of people, no. But wouldn’t it be nice to at least have the time to buy from a local baker?
Supporting local bakers means not only getting a better loaf, but supporting the local economy. It means the local community benefitting directly from money spent locally and then spending that money locally. The money stays, to a greater extent, local – contributing less to the global consumer push and rush.
Obviously, returning to ‘normal’ will mean, for many, a return to having very little time – but the more we can support local businesses, the more we will be encouraging local business growth and infrastructure. Strong local economies, relying less on global consumerism, have positive impacts on our communities, our society, our environment and, inevitably, on our pace of life.
By encouraging a strong local business infrastructure, we create a system of interdependence. Local businesses on Exeter’s Fore Street, for example, have been supporting each other during the current crisis, combining deliveries and offering their expertise to one another, helping to sustain each other and keep each other afloat.
When local businesses become a community serving the wider community, everyone benefits.
Consuming locally also means, generally speaking, consuming more sustainably. It means less waste, fewer transport miles, fewer emissions.
Now, I know most of the flour we buy isn’t local flour, just as many of the seeds we plant aren’t local seeds. But where we support local growers, bakers, restaurants, cafes, clothes shops and all the other wonderful stores of which Exeter boasts so many, we are supporting greater sustainability – environmentally and economically.
Buying local can have global benefits.