Waning Flour paoer: Goa’s Bakers in Bad Shape

No Goan snack is complete without a pao, poie or undo. No day in the Goan life is complete without the poder honking and delivering freshly baked bread to your house. But with rising costs of raw materials and other various problems, traditional Goan bakers are struggling to make ends meet and are facing a lot of difficulties in sustaining the age-old family business that has become synonymous with the Goan way of life. JULIO D'SILVA takes a look at the hardship local bakers go through to give us our daily bread

Published on:

29 Sep 2019, 12:00 am

he traditional Goan poders are well on the way of becoming extinct and the occupation of making bread or pao as it is called is being taken over by migrants.

This is the present case with most traditional occupations in Goa. The hardships involved in making the pao and the low earnings do not attract the younger generation who prefer to migrate to the West or work on board a ship.

According to a survey, conducted by the All Goa Bakers and Confectioners Association, of the 600 bakeries presently operating in Goa, less than 50 are managed by Goans while around 200 are managed by migrants, who have taken them on lease from the original Goan bakers.

However, what is astounding is that many new bakeries have been started by migrants and these are increasing and a cause of concern as the migrants do not prepare bread the traditional way and are known to bake bread even three times a day.

The traditional method of preparing pao is to knead the dough, which is not done manually in present times but is done mechanically. The kneaded dough is left to stand for about three hours so that the dough rises due to the effect of the yeast added and then is placed in the trays that are baked.

The traditional baker and his staff work in the night where the kneading is done and the dough is left to rise and early in the morning the baking process starts so that people get fresh bread for their breakfast.

However, the migrants have changed the entire process. In the first place they bake bread even three times in a day that is in the morning, afternoon and evening and hence shortcuts are used. The most abused is the yeast used. They use extra yeast and keep the dough to rise for only about half an hour and then start baking.

Not only does this destroy the taste and flavour of the bread but most often even the bread is found to be mushy and damp and not adequately risen and that is why many Goans are now opting for the sliced bread packed and baked in factories.

Some bakeries that operated for more than 120 years have now closed down because they cannot compete with the migrants making bread using all shortcuts and ignoring the tradition involved in break making.

Many Goan bakers have stopped preparing bread and opted for baking biscuits, cakes and the much sought bread with jaggery that were associated with Bardez earlier.

President of All Goa Bakers and Confectioners Association, Peter Fernandes, disclosed that during their survey they found 75 such bakeries while there are 10 bakeries that do both, the traditional bread as well as cake and biscuits and.

Melba D’Silva, who took over the traditional bakery that was owned by her grandmother, is one who has stopped making bread and only concentrates on cakes, biscuits, ‘Godacho Boll’ and Goan sweets and has a roaring business.

“I anticipated the labour problem and realised that it would be difficult for me to get the labourers to work in the night to prepare bread, the way my grandmother used to do and hence I opted to give up bread making and use the bakery for other products,” said Melba.

However, on the other hand, John Rommel D’Souza continues to run the Souza and Sons Bakery at Old Market in Margao. This bakery was started by his grandfather in 1909 and even today, it bakes bread the traditional way using Goan labour.

John Rommel admitted that it’s becoming difficult to find labour but added that he is lucky as he has got Goans working for him all these years. “It is true that I have to pay them more than what the migrant labourers charge but I get the quality I want and that is what makes by bread a favourite with my customers,” he said.

He pointed out that he has regular customers who come only for the bread and poie prepared by him. He also bakes “Lingua de Sogra” or ‘mother-in-law’s tongue’ a special biscuit that is a favourite to be consumed with the evening high tea.

John bakes his bread in the firewood heated oven. Once the heat decreases, he opts for the electric oven that he has also installed and he has to purchase the firewood required for the oven from Karnataka as it is not available in Goa.

PROBLEMS AND DEMANDS

The cost of running a bakery is increasing every day and that is the reason why bakers want the price of pao to be increased. Firewood that is used to heat the ovens is not available in Goa and has to be brought from Maharashtra or Karnataka.

According to Peter Fernandes, a truck load of firewood that is brought from Dodamarg that used to cost around Rs. 17,000 is now available only for Rs. 21,000 per truckload. On the other hand, John Rommel D’Souza purchases firewood from Karnataka by paying Rs. 20,000 per truckload.

Labour is another problem faced by bakers as there are hardly any Goan labourers available and John Rommel manages his bakery with only Goan labourers. Others hire labourers from the northern states. The labour generally comes from Jharkhand nowadays with some coming from Orissa and Bihar.

Presently there is no labour brought from Maharashtra or Karnataka who used to supply labour earlier said Peter Fernandes. He also pointed out that the labour cost has also gone up tremendously. “While five years ago labour was available for Rs. 5,000 to 6,000 per month is now available only for Rs. 10,000 per month and this is the price of raw labourer who knows nothing. While those with experience have to be paid extra,” he said.

While the general public complains that the bread is less than 50 grams, those supplying mid-day meal to schools and those selling ros omelette by the road side urge the bakers to make smaller bread so that they can purchase them at a lower price. “The government pays Rs. 7 for the mid-day meal, which has to have bhaji and bread and hence they ask for smaller bread as they cannot afford to pay Rs. 4 for only the bread,” said Peter.

Some of the bakers are also facing a lot issues in running their age-old bakeries.

The main reason for this is that bakers cannot repair or renovate their bakeries because the owner of the land is not giving the required NOC. The landowners had given the land to Goans to set up a bakery but the new generation is not continuing with the family tradition and has leased the bakery to migrants; and landowners are also wary of giving an NOC to the migrants.

Non availability of toddy is another reason why bakers cannot make pao the traditional way. One bottle of toddy costs around Rs. 200 and is hardly available besides the fact that bakers will need quite a lot of toddy to bake the traditional pao.

The government is now considering financing bakers up to Rs. 2.5 lakhs in order to purchase the electric oven. However, Peter has instead suggested that instead of giving the amount only to purchase the oven, it be given to the baker to be used for his needs.

“Some bakers could use the amount to renovate the bakery while others could use it to purchase some other material and some may want to use to purchase vehicles to transport their products,” he said.

The All Goa Bakers and Confectioners Association has also asked the government to revive toddy tapping in Goa so that there are enough of toddy tappers who will be able to supply toddy that could be used by the bakers.