Engadin confectioner
The tradition of the Engadin confectioners (also commonly known as Bündner confectioners ) goes back to the 15th century. Since then, the livelihoods in the Engadine and in the southern Graubünden valleys of Val Müstair , Puschlav and Bergell have no longer been sufficient to feed the local population. From then on into the 19th century, young people and families of younger workers were forced to leave their homeland and earn wages and bread abroad.
While the boys in the Surselva and Mittelbünden were more likely to work as mercenaries , the Engadins mainly learned the trade of confectioners .
Flowering in Venice and expulsion
In 1766, 38 out of 42 confectioneries in Venice were operated by Graubünden farmers, which aroused envy and suspicion among local guilds. The aftermath of the Grisons turmoil and an inept politicization of the Free State of the Three Leagues in the attempt to regain the former subject areas in the Valtellina led in the same year to the revocation of all privileges of the Grisons confectioners and, as a result, to their exodus - wanted by the city of Venice.
distribution
The Bündner confectioners can be found in 891 cities. Copenhagen in the north to Florence in the south, Gibraltar in the west to St. Petersburg in the east are known.
Engadin confectioners on the move
Certificate of proficiency for the pastry chef Bartolomeo Castelmur (1809–1843) from Bergell , issued in 1827 by Giovanni Pallioppi in Turin
Confectionery from the Bündner Murezi Caduff in Rouen
working conditions
Child labor was commonplace, as was wage payments only after the end of mostly five-year contracts. The daily working hours in lightless bakeries usually lasted 14 hours.
Returnees
The returnees built numerous Engadine houses and palazzi with their wealth . B. in a separate quarter in Poschiavo . They were also instrumental in founding the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz and the higher daughter institute in Ftan .
literature
- Dolf Kaiser: Almost a people of confectioners? Graubünden confectioners, cafetiers and hoteliers in European countries until the First World War. A contribution to economic history , NZZ Verlag, Zurich 1985, ISBN 3-85823-134-7 .
- Ursa Rauschenbach-Dallmaier: Engadiner Zuckerbäckersprösslinge , in: Engadiner Post from September 20, 2011, p. 5.
Web links
- The sweet temptation abroad , Swissinfo.
- It's only sweet in the distance , WOZ.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Engadine sugar sprouts, see under literature