This text is part of the special Plaisirs booklet
From homemade bread to industrial bread, including small and large neighborhood bakeries, bread is undoubtedly part of our culinary tradition, as well as of Montreal’s history. The exhibition Slices of history. Bread and bakeries in Montreal, presented by the Écomusée du fier monde, tells the story of the city’s bakery.
From the housewife to the industrial age
For several years, the Écomusée du fier monde, rue Atateken in Montreal, has been interested in food processing. Dairy products, jams and marinades, as well as the Viau biscuit factory have been exhibited in this museum in the Center-Sud district. No wonder bread is featured in their new exhibit, which showcases the evolution of baking in Montreal over the past two centuries.
“When we look at the inventory of traces of industrial heritage in the district, a third of the establishments were dedicated to bakeries,” explains Éric Giroux, director and head of research and collections at the Écomusée du fier monde. And we realized that the bakery industry was very present in the 1890s. There were about twenty bakeries active in the neighborhood. After that, the industrial boom completely changed the face of this industry.
“There is a certain richness in the iconography in connection with the bakery sector of the time,” he adds. Throughout the exhibition, we can clearly see the change in the relationship between homemade bread and industrial bread. In the first part of Slices of history, we present the housewife and the ritual of preparing homemade bread and all the cultural representation that goes with it.
When we look at the inventory of traces of industrial heritage in the Center-Sud district, a third of the establishments were dedicated to bakeries.
Then, at the beginning of the XXe century, the First World War shook the whole world, as well as the Canadian food industry. For those Canadians who remained at home, one way to help the war effort was to provide food for British soldiers and civilians. “The large Canadian flour mills have increased their production capacity to export [la farine de blé surtout], explains Éric Giroux. After the conflict, they began to acquire small bakeries, such as Pride of Montreal now known as the POM brand. “
Some consumers then begin to abandon homemade bread and prefer to buy it ready-made at the grocery store. This new market will help the large flour mills to sell their flour reserves, despite the fall in demand after the First World War. And for the housewives who continue to prepare most foods at home, the flour mills themselves are developing cookbooks to encourage the use of flour in all sauces.
In doing so, the transformation of the bakery industry continued its momentum in the following years, as evidenced by the advertisement for “Modern bread”, published in The duty on June 3, 1930 which can be seen during the exhibition: “Thanks to the use of ultramodern machines, not a human hand will touch the bread or any of its ingredients. […] What progress! What a remarkable improvement on the ancient unsanitary method of handling bread by hand! “
From decade to decade, technological advancements, both in the preparation and in the preservation of bread, have carved out a place of choice in the bakery industry in Quebec and elsewhere in the world. In recent years, however, there has been a sustained renaissance of artisan bakeries.
The return of the pendulum
Obviously, the role of the baker of yesteryear regains its letters of nobility. Anyone who is not afraid to go back and handle the bread with both hands finds a storefront all over Quebec.
On this subject, the exhibition ends with a video interview with Bertrand Gaumer, ex-engineer, now artisan-baker at the helm of the Pain à Tartine bakery located a few steps from the Economusée du fier monde, at 1271, rue Ontario East. In this section of the exhibition, we see him in pictures, baking bread in his bakery, where he only uses organic flour from Quebec. And he is not the only one to adopt such practices!
His bakery, like that of other artisans, contributes to the rebirth of the neighborhood bakery, even alleyway, a nearby bakery.
The exhibition Slices of history. Bread and bakeries in Montreal is presented at the Écomusée du fier monde until March 6, 2022.