01 December 2022
The humble baguette provokes a short reflection on localization and globalization
How dare she refer to the Baguette as the humble baguette, you will say, and rightly so. For this quintessentially French staple has just been awarded Unesco heritage status, on the day I was about to send the blog out (last day of November 2022). It will now forever be on the “intangible cultural heritage list”. Because, so the official justification “The baguette is a daily ritual, a structuring element of the meal, synonymous with sharing and conviviality” and its making involves artisanal craftsmanship. President Macron could not refrain from remarking that it was “envied around the world”. For the full article go here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63800674. (And if you are seriously interested in how the baguette made it onto the list, there is further reading here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56540232.)
However, let me get back to my little story about how the now not so humble baguette provoked a reflection on localization and globalization.
There are literally hundreds of definitions of what “localization” means. In the early days, if people asked “What does localization mean”, the answer would often be “oh, you change the date format”. More seriously though it is the process of adapting products and services to specific markets (locales), taking into account other languages, cultures and values. This may include images, customs, literary references, colours, habits, beliefs – and as I will show here, food items.
The main requirement of localization is that the product and the way it is presented should feel authentic and real to the intended audience. That they should be made to feel comfortable, “at home”, rather than puzzled and alienated by foreignness.
But even though we have all read these definitions, they often feel rather abstract, perhaps artificial, sometimes a little over-the-top or far-fetched. But once in a while, you come across something much more tangible, concrete. That precisely happened to me with the baguette. sold feel authentic and real to users.
Alpha has a client in France who offers printing solutions (printers and consumables, plus cards) for all industries, including banks, the health and education sectors, and retailers. Their solution is used for creating and printing identity cards, access tags, loyalty cards, gift cards, and signage for displaying product names and descriptions as well as price tags. Within the retail industry, they are used by cheese stores, delicatessen counters, butcher’s, baker’s etc. for creating, personalising and printing their cards and price tags. (See here: https://www.edikio.com/).
One of their recent articles was aimed at bakeries, explaining the practical and aesthetic advantages of using Edikio solutions for displaying information on ingredients, allergens and prices on their products, and how to attract passers-by into their shop with attractive, professional looking signage. More than that, Edikio also gave the boulangeries advice where in the shop to place different items in order to attract customers’ attention. It included this recommendation:
La zone froide moins bien placée dans la boutique est, elle, réservée aux produits qui se vendent seuls comme vos baguettes.
(EN: The “cold zone”, less prominently located in the shop, is reserved for products that sell themselves, such as your baguettes.)
DE: Der weniger günstig platzierte “kalte Bereich” im Laden ist dagegen für Produkte reserviert, die sich ganz von selbst verkaufen, wie Ihre Baguettes.
A perfectly fine translation into German. But not a localization. Clearly, our client is trying to reach bakeries in the German-speaking world. While everyone knows what a baguette is it is definitely not the first choice of bread that you buy if you live in Baden-Württemberg, Baveria, Berlin, or in Switzerland or Austria (even though some say the Baguette was originally invented by a baker from Vienna).
A dive into the bread-eating habits of the German-speaking countries was clearly called for! Germans, it turns out, favour loaves made of a mix of wheat and rye flour (32,8% of all bread sold). Much to the distress of the German association of bakers and the Brot-Institut, hot on its heels and threating to overtake it, is the boring “Toastbrot”, an English/American invention, which comes conveniently sliced and packed (but has not taste to speak of). In fact, latest statistics say that the purchase of mixed loaves has now gone down to 24%, with toast bread reaching 28% (price and convenience are the cited as the main factors). This is even more lamentable as the German Brot-Register lists well over 3000 speciality breads spread across the various regions, 3255 to be exact.
That figure is topped by claims of some 3500 breads in Switzerland. The image below only shows some of the main varieties, associated with the cantons. The main criteria for the Swiss are “Swissness” and crustiness. Price and convenience are less of a consideration. Toast bread is rather frowned on. Baguettes are popular but not at the expense of indigenous breads and Brötli (like Weggli, Büürli …); croissants are popular for breakfast, but they have their own variety – Gipfeli, quite different from the French kind.
Austria seems to be more modest in their claim. They speak of 300 types of bread – and very nice they look, it has to be said:
So, replacing “baguette” was anything but a straightforward choice, as you can imagine!
But more than that, it confirmed to me a long-held suspicion that despite all efforts at localization, a “de-localization” process is underway. Different socio-cultural and economic factors such as income increase, changes in intergenerational and gender (role of women in society) relationships, different organization of working time, urbanization and globalization are encroaching on local lifestyle patterns.
And it does not stop with food, of course. Economic globalisation is introducing changes in the distribution and availability of many products (imports, commercial innovation, transformation of retail sales) while changes in lifestyle, fashion, cultural habits, education, upbringing of children, health, reading, and language, are being introduced as a result of this transition from tradition to modernity, from diversity to uniformity, from local to global.
Sources:
https://www.brotinstitut.de/brotinstitut/zahlen-und-fakten-zu-brot
https://jetztjob.de/brotsorten-deutschland/
https://www.dw.com/de/wirtschaftplus-deutsches-brot-in-not/av-63749533
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