Jeff Sheinberg wrote:
>
>
> ...Actually,... it will depend
> on the good taste of the consumer,
>

We can hope that , in the larger cities anyway, that there will
be enough people with the taste and pocketbook to support good
artisnal bakeries.

I have observed in the food business, that often that last ten
percent that seperates the truly great product from the rest can
take 90 percent of the time and effort as well as 90 percent of
the cost.

The artisan business model allows the creator to make the
decisions according to his view of what is best. If the pool of
customers that appreciate and buy his efforts is big enough the
business can flourish while selling a better product at a higher
price. This is almost impossible in a corporate business
structure.

In the large corporate model, There is always extreme pressure
to take cost out of the product. For one thing you are trying to
appeal to a larger mass market. And, for another, what other
justification is there for the existance of the management
class. Often the quality of bread or other food is the
cummlative result of many small decisions. Cutting corners one
small step at a time may lower quality in such small increments
that it can not be discerned from step to step. It will add up.

The best example of a corporate rolling incremental food disaster
that I can think of is Chicken Mcnuggets. Over the space of a
decade or more that product went from breaded chunks of chicken
breast that were quite good, for what they were, to something
unfit for this humans consumption. One cost saving step at a
time, they devolved from what appeared to be chunks of whole
muscle meat to a bleached emulsion of skin, gristle, connective
tissue, various binders and possibly some meat. From the taste
there could have been feathers included too, for all I know.
Really awful stuff the last time I tasted them a few years ago.

I fear that similar things will happen to the "brown and serve"
bread wholesalers when they are consolidated into large corporate
entities. After all, no one expects gourmet taste from something
in a Wonder Bread wrapper.

Now, I am aware that cheap food provides good nutrition for
millions in this country and really is a blessing for those with
limited means and the rest of us too. Also, I admitt that taste
is just a matter of opinion. However, to the extent that mass
marketed "artisnal" bread drives the real thing and therefore
choice out of the market, It is an unhappy prospect.

Regards,

Charles

--
Charles Perry
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** A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand **