What are artisan foods

From fabrics to furniture, the demand for artisanal products is on the rise. And artisanal food is no exception. 

Unlike mainstream and mass-produced products, artisanal products are unique. They are made with hands, using traditional methods, and in limited quantities.

Likewise, artisanal food is made using traditional recipes, which do not feature preservatives, colorants, sweeteners, thickeners, or chemicals and which is why they are considered healthy. 

Metrolife finds out everything one needs to know about this ‘authentic’ and ‘conscious’ food trend.

Vocal for local

Artisanal foods are usually handmade and follow traditional methods of cooking. They support the farm-to-fork model in that they make use of products sourced from local and small-scale farmers, says Shwetha Rajashekar, COO, India Sweet House.

A faceless corporation churning out products by the millions does not appeal to urban consumers anymore. “Buyers have all the information at their fingertips. Farmers have become digitally savvy. As a result, most consumers can now see the impact their purchase has on a local economy,” she adds. 

Pandemic made them popular

The movement to support local producers started a decade ago but has caught on with gusto since the pandemic broke out, she says. 

Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues, founder of Artisan Deli, agrees. “Since artisanal foods are prepared hygienically and stored and packaged well, they have become the need of the hour now,” he talks about how the pandemic has changed the consumer perception about food safety forever. 

Plus, people are wary about consuming processed food more than before, he goes on to add.

“The health benefits of artisanal food products are many. They are a high source of calcium, protein, and vitamin. They can reverse hypertension by lowering blood pressure. They provide essential healthy fat. They help in building muscles. They benefit the immune system. They are good for the thyroid health,” he explains

Among a long list of artisanal foods, bread, cheeses, fruit preserves, cured meats, cold cuts, beverages, oils, and vinegar are quite popular. 

They are affordable, accessible

Teja Chekuri, managing partner of Ironhill India, says consumers are losing interest in run-of-the-mill products available on the shelves.

“Most consumers want something that is unique and that caters to their senses in a more intimate way. Artisanal food provides that experience,” he adds. 

Artisanal food was thought to be a ‘thing of the elite’ till some time ago but now, consumers know what constitutes artisan food and beverages and where to get them from.

“Today, many entrepreneurs have entered the industry with a desire to preserve the ‘slow method of cooking’. Hence, there is an obvious shift in affordability and accessibility of these products,” he explains. 

What do artisans do?

Most artisans are conscious of the quality they put out. An artisan will always be on the lookout of traditional recipes that will appeal to their patrons. Most also take the effort to learn the recipe from the masters before replicating it with their own twist, says Shwetha.

How do you identify artisanal food?

An artisan product has three definite hallmarks. It adheres to traditional processes, recipes and quality.

How do you become an artisan producer?

There are a lot of smaller communities that are working towards preserving our rich food history. Identify one that resonates with you and work with them as a producer.

It would have been inconceivable over a decade ago to imagine that we would be tasting and purchasing locally produced luxury goods like nangka gin and gourmet dark chocolate. Southeast Asia is part of the global artisan food revolution which has exploded over the last decade.

But what exactly is artisan food? Truth be told, there isn’t a single definition but in broad terms, it is essentially locally produced food made with non-industrial processes.

The term “artisan” is similar to the word craft. What we call craft beer could just as well be known as artisan beer.

The rise of this category has been exponential – artisan, or craft, food and beverages have grown increasingly popular in the past few years. Just a quick search online or browse through social media platforms and you’re bound to see several homegrown food and drink producers, ranging from tempeh to whiskey. All proudly stamped with the “made locally” – or variations of that – tagline.

The growth of this industry reaps several benefits. The advantage of artisan foods is that it comes with the added bonus of being sustainably produced.

The underlying philosophy amongst artisan food makers is to deliver products with minimal additives so their customers know exactly where their meals come from.

Southeast Asia’s variable landscape also allows farmers to grow an abundance of fruits and vegetation, which enable food makers to expand their craft.

That’s not all. Artisan food producers care deeply for the communities in which they operate. They rely on local labour, farmers or indigenous peoples, rather than mechanisation. They are guided by fair trade practices rather than the God of Profit alone. A win-win situation for most parties no doubt.

Responsible food artisans respect both Mother Earth and you, their consumer, by eschewing nasty chemicals and pesticides. They tend to use less fossil fuels, emit less greenhouse gases whilst conserving water resources and building healthy soil.

The future looks bright for the artisan community.

This is an excerpt from Unreserved’s March 2020 issue from the article The Rise of Food Artisans.

Today, the most important thing to say about the word “artisan” and the related word “artisanal” is that they are completely overused and usually meaningless.

Definition of Artisanal Food

The term artisanal, in regards to food, has no legal or standard definition in the United States.

The word “artisan” or “artisanal” is usually applied to particular foods, for example, artisanal bread or artisanal cheese. Usually, this refers to the food product being made by hand, in small batches, and with particular emphasis on preserving traditional techniques. Also, fresh and local ingredients tend to be stressed.

Artisanal food makers are or claim to be very concerned with where ingredients come from and their effect on the environment. Foods that are manufactured in an industrial manner, with any type of automation, cannot properly be called artisanal, by these standards. As well, the skills that are valued in artisanal food making are those that are learned on the job and handed down from one generation to the next. Experience is seen as more important than acquiring knowledge from books or other instruction.

Artisanal, as a term, is similar to the word craft. For instance, what we call craft beer could just as well be called artisanal beer, although that term may sound strange to the ears of beer drinkers. In fact, the word artisan comes from the Latin ars, which means craft, skill, or art.

The Real Meaning of Artisanal is Anything at All

Given these definitions of artisanal, however, anybody can use the term to describe their food, even if few or none of these requirements are met. Yet, despite this, large scale food manufacturers have increasingly sought to take advantage of the current increased demand for quality food for local sources, and the term artisan might be applied to foods that are manufactured on a large scale in a modern factory. Indeed, even though artisan skills imply very old skills that have been handed down over many generations, some techniques that are quite new are being recast as artisan.

Nice Stories from Food Makers

Many food makers have stories about the originator of the food attached to their marketing efforts. This is certain nothing new, as anyone who grew up on Betty Crocker and similar fictional characters can attest. These stories tend to dwell on the old family recipe and traditional values of the food’s originator. Often, however, these founders do not exist and the food was always made by a large-scale manufacturer in a large-scale factory. Therefore, unless you can find evidence that a food you buy in a super market meets a reasonable standard for being dubbed artisanal, you should assume that this is nothing more than a marketing term.

Artisanal Values?

Often, many aspects of food manufacturing are automated by machine, but one or two things that cannot be done by machine are done by hand. Thus, these aspects of the process are used as proof of the artisanal values of the food and its maker. However, the workers who complete the steps that must be done by hand may have no particular expertise or knowledge of the food, its ingredients, their source, or anything else about the food. They are trained to do one or two tasks by rote. Just because something is done by hand, does not make the person doing it an artisan. Instead of real and tangible standards, like those described above, the term artisanal is described as if it is a state of mind, attitude, or set of values. It is seen as something you can represent, even if the food-making process is completely automated.

It is unlikely that many modern businesses, even small locally owned ones, can actually operate in a true “artisanal” fashion. This reality is the very reason why food makers want to blur the definition of the word and make it as flexible as possible. In most food businesses, some degree of automation is probably used, or at least a good deal of modern technology. If we expect artisan food to abide by the above standards, for instance, then we would expect an artisan baker to knead each and every loaf of bread by hand, and this is almost certainly not tenable for today’s business. As it stands, the term is used in such a flexible and debated way, and is so easily appropriated by almost any food business, in some aspect or another, that we cannot see it as much more than a label. Each food business and food product must be judged by the the aspects we can verify and be sure of, rather than by any label attached to it by the maker. Foods that are truly handmade from locally source ingredients will, of course, have a higher price.

The current demand for high quality artisanal foods can be credited to the growing district between food consumers and food producers. The supply chain is hidden from consumers who wish to have better knowledge of what goes into the food they eat, so they can make informed decisions about their health and nutrition.

You May Be Interested in These Articles