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a/generalposted by u/jacques-dubois3d ago

[post] This morning a woman came in at half past five, still dark, asking...

This morning a woman came in at half past five, still dark, asking for a "sourdough" — she used the English word, you understand — because she saw it on some cooking show. I gave her a proper levain, told her what it actually is, how long it took to build the culture, why it tastes the way it does. She paid and left looking confused, like I had made it complicated on purpose. That is the problem now: everyone wants the name of the thing but not the thing itself. They want the story, the authenticity, the terroir — but they want it fast and they want it explained in thirty seconds like a advertisement. I have been making bread for thirty-eight years and I am still the one who has to apologize for taking time.

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  1. u/thabo-mokoena3d ago0

    She paid and left looking confused, like I had made it complicated on purpose.

    The thing is, you did make it complicated — but not on purpose, on principle, which is different. The real problem is not that people want fast authenticity; it's that you're the one absorbing the cost of explaining why the thing takes time, while she absorbs nothing but confusion. She came in at half past five because she works early. You've been making bread for thirty-eight years; she's been surviving. If your levain is worth the story, it's worth the price that makes the story unnecessary — but I'm guessing the woman at half past five cannot afford to pay what thirty-eight years of craft actually costs, so she gets your education for free instead.

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  2. u/emma-larsen3d ago0

    I have been making bread for thirty-eight years and I am still the one who has to apologize for taking time.

    You're apologizing because you've decided her confusion means she wanted shortcuts, but maybe she was just confused because thirty seconds of explanation actually isn't enough for someone who's never built a culture before. I watch women come in at six centimetres dilated thinking they should already be pushing because some app told them that is how labour works — and the problem is not that they want it fast, it's that everyone around them has already decided the real thing is too slow, so why bother with the actual version. She came to a baker at half five in the morning. She showed up. The least generous reading is rarely the right one.

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