One Generation Away from Extinction

What happens when your toilet backs up and overflows? For most people, it’s call a plumber, after the initial panic and clean-up has taken place.
What happens when there are no farmers to grow your crunchy, sweet apple? Do we run out and grab a packet of seeds, tuck them in the ground and hope for the best?
Which of us has ever milked a cow by hand? Sewn a dress or mended a sock?

There are workers. Tradesmen and women. Craftsmen. Artisans. All are people that have certain skills when it comes to producing, repairing or maintaining the things that most of us take little notice of. Until it’s broken or gone forever.

During a bit of research into this topic I found a website that is dedicated to the awareness and preservation of Heritage Crafts. The site is specific to the UK, and skills within the UK, but paints a picture of how fragile the thread is that holds some of these skills together worldwide. Looking at the list you will see skills that most of us have never encountered anyone that is able to duplicate. That is exactly my point.

Many of us know of or have watched Mike Rowe, the “Dirty Jobs” guy. His show should not just be viewed as entertainment. Maybe we should take it as a warning. There are certain skills, crafts, trades, etc., that are at risk of extinction. Some are so rare that they are less than one generation away from being gone for good.

Our journey through Europe highlighted three of these crafts/skills that I will describe in follow on portions of this same article. I will also share some we both noted as “honorable mentions” during our travel experiences.

A Generation, or a Mere Heartbeat Away?

During our travels and experiences, we took some tours and excursions into things that interested us. It was during these tours that I immediately became even more aware of the fragility of certain skills.

I have always been fascinated by those that are able to perform certain skills that very few people even have the knowledge to attempt. I guess in my old age I have become more aware of how the number of those skills and people is diminishing. The first craft I will highlight is the making of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Parmigiano Reggiano is produced exclusively in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, more specifically in five particular zones within that region. Even the cows and the grass the cows are fed must be in that region and be inspected and certified. The entire process is under the very critical, specific and watchful eye of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium and in order to further solidify its status, the European Union granted it a Protected Designation of Origin, (PDO) in 1996.

My research did not provide anything more specific than “Hundreds”, when I tried to find out how many certified makers there are. That is, “hundreds” on a planet of billions of people that consume a few hundred thousand wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano a year. Cheese that must age a minimum of 12 months before it is even tested to see if it meets the exact quality. Some is aged as long as 80 months!

The cheese making facility we were privileged to tour is owned and operated by a husband, wife, and son. They obtain their milk from a local certified dairy and are officially certified as producers of the authentic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. As we watched them work, and heard all the exact standards and specific processes they must follow, I couldn’t help but wonder…What if something happened to just one member of this family? Would production there stop forever? With the only son appearing to be in his 30’s, and no children of his own learning the craft, yet, and no apprentice following, who will carry on at this location when he is through?

The processes and standards required are not something that can be taught in a short time, nor are there even long lines of younger adults waiting to learn how to do this exacting, physically demanding, seven day a week craft! Yes. Every single day the cows are milked, and the cheese is made. This is more a labor of love than it is an income source, and you could see and hear it when they spoke to us and showed us their product.

How many more small families are vital links in this very small chain? The chains and their links get less and more precarious when I highlight our next craft; Balsamic Vinegar.

Balsamic vinegar is another one of those more often imitated than authentic products. What we buy in Western countries is nearly always a product that Italians wouldn’t even use as salad dressing. Their faces twist into horrified looks as they shake their heads and gesture negatively with their hands when anything but authentic balsamic vinegar is mentioned (Unless you’re a tourist looking to buy from a tourist-trap shop that is).

True Balsamic Vinegar is aged a minimum of TWELVE YEARS before it is even considered for testing to see if it is worthy of the name. I read somewhere that there are only about 30 Master Tasters capable of making that determination. As the Balsamic Vinegar ages, it is then transferred between five different types of wooden casks or barrels, each a specific type and in a certain order. What starts out as gallons of product eventually evaporates and condenses down to mere ounces, making it even more rare as it ages. It begins the entire process from one of two certain types of grape. Since Modena and Reggio Emilia are where traditional balsamic vinegar comes from, any balsamic bearing the name “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena” or “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia” has E.U. protected status – this means it must be made in a certain way and come from specific places. Just like with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, both Modena and Reggio Emilia have consortiums that inspect and certify that each exacting step is followed, and that the quality is superb.

The Acetaia Picci was our tour stop. Marco Picci, the owner is one of the few Consortium members, and also a maker of the “Black Gold”. He told us of having recently competed in and won a contest for FIFTY YEAR AGED balsamic vinegar! They literally have no one able to even make older vinegar due to the necessary evaporation process. He has apparently suffered from a severe medical issue recently, but is able and carries on. Should his condition worsen, the world will lose not only one of a few dozen Master Tasters, but also one of the very few producers of truly authentic balsamic vinegar. Marco currently has no apprentices or family heirs.

In this continuing thread, we have gone from “Hundreds” of elite cheese producers down to “Dozens” of elite balsamic vinegar producers. Both have tenuous links in their chains of production. Our next and final example will be the Venetian gondola makers and one single remaining repair shop in the world.

Black Gold, aka Balsamic Vinegar is actually very rare

The Famous Gondolas of Venice

There are literally dozens of such intricate, specialized crafts that are in danger of disappearing. Cost of such detailed, time-consuming work. Lack of interest in pursuing a life dedicated to a skill that sometimes barely pays the bills. Rarity of specific materials. Modernization of production methods. There are many reasons why.

I for one am saddened when I think of a heritage type craft disappearing. They are part of our history and culture. The products themselves are pieces of art that are useful and unique. Each stitch, softened grain, polished or painted surface captures a moment in time where a person embedded a lifetime of perfection and dedication to their craft.

We Follow the Stones and touch them to feel that spirit we believe is left within each one. The echoes of the laborers, the sweat from their hands, the hopes for the future they were building. Sometimes under duress such as slavery, other times as creators and builders. The spirit is there. I believe the same is true of the copper vats built by hand for the making of Parmigiano Reggiano, the five different wooden casks for the curing of traditional Balsamic vinegar, and the wooden gondolas working the canals of Venice. Each step of the process leaves its mark.

I think everyone reading this has at some time seen a picture of Venice and the famous gondolas. The Italian city of art, culture and canals instead of streets that must be traversed by all manner of watercraft, the most famous of which is the Gondola.

We were excited and surprised when Shannon found a tour online for the Squero San Trovaso aka Lo Squero di San Trovaso. That is the name of a famous Square and the location of the ONLY gondola repair shop in all of Venice, and one of the only remaining shops of that style along the river and serving as a home and gondola building or repair shop. This shop is the only one in the world that currently repairs and maintains the Venetian gondolas. According to the young woman that served as our guide, it is also one of only approximately 15 shops that even build new gondolas.

We met our guide and one other person that was there for the tour, a young man that was doing some sort of research project. Our guide informed us that her father was the owner of the business and employed only two other men and her brother, who was not there that day. She led us through the small shop filled with mostly hand operated tools and a few power tools. The smell of fresh paint from two beautiful gondolas, along with the scent of different types of wood filled the air. Gondolas are built with eight different, specific types of wood, she explained. Each portion of a gondola has special meaning, is exacting in it’s design specification, and is artistically beautiful in their finish. The details and specifications are too many to outline further in this piece, suffice to say they are functional works of art that also highlight historical and geographical points surrounding Venice, and the gondolas and gondoliers that pilot them. If you want to read more about Gondolas, MARC DE TOLLENAERE has a fabulous webpage on them.

When asked what the future looked like for the business, our guide replied, “We don’t look that far ahead. We have more work right now than these few can do and we just look at today.” Further questioning regarding who was in line to continue running the business, or being trained to take over in the long term, led to our understanding that the hopes are that the son/her brother would take over someday. She did not seem too interested in the thought herself and stated she had no training in the actual craft itself.