Povestea incepe pe la inceputul veacului la XIX-lea cand un brutar armean pe
nume Babic a reusit sa scrie istorie in Bucuresti cu painea pe care o facea. Se
spune ca era asa de priceput in a face jimble si franzele ca niciodata marfa sa
nu era de ajuns pentru toti musterii. Dupa unii si-ar fi avut brutaria in zona
Baratiei – Piata de Flori – Targul din Launtru din Bucuresti.
ENGLISH VERSION BELOW
Painile sale aveau ceva special, un gust de turta dulce, fiind plamadite dupa
meremeturi complicate, din cea mai curata faina, cernuta de mai multe ori, lasata
la dospit, iarasi plamadite si framantante pentru ca mai apoi sa fie coapte in
cuptoare “in conditiuni cu totul ingrijite”. Facea franzele si
jimble pentru oamenii de rand, dar si pentru aristocratia vremii „cozonaci
pentru sarbatori, pentru nunti si botezuri; colaci pentru inmormantari;
franzelute crestate si in forma diferitelor pasarele (o inovatie a lui speciala,
bucuria copiilor); covrigi cu zahar, cu miere si susan; cea mai delicioasa placinta
cu carne si branza. In timpul iernii, alaturi de paine in cuptoare se coceau
dovleci uriasi pentru mesele boieresti, cozonaci mari de cate trei ocale (3kg)
cu nuci si stafide, petrecuti cu fileuri de ananas, impletiti in toate formele si
figurinele”. Totusi, produsul care l-a consacrat va fi “coltucul lui Babic” o paine
asemanatoare ca forma cu painea noastra de azi, preparat dupa o reteta pe care
multi au incercat fara succes sa o imite. In acele timpuri painile era de
regula rotunde, fiind o forma mai usor de produs si manipulat, asa ca forma
lunguiata, cu doua capete cu care Babic a venit pe piata a starnit curiozitatea
tuturor.
In fiecare dimineata stolnicii, logofetii vatafii si ciocoii curtilor boieresti
aveau ordin de la stapanii lor sa nu care cumva sa se intoarca fara macar un
coltuc de la Babic. In toata urbea nu se vorbea decat despre aceste minunate
coltuce care “se topeau in gura”, se ajunsese la o hiperbolizare ilara, unii
sustineau ca „nici o cautare de doctor, n-a fost in stare sa-i vindece de stomac,
ca acest coltuc al lui Babic“.
Se spune ca Babic era renumit pentru corectitudine, lucru rar printre
brutarii acelor timpuri care obisnuiau sa insele la gramajul produselor in
ciuda pedepselor foarte exotice (bataia la chimir, amenzi “simtitoare”, bataia
la falanga, tintuitul de usa pravaliei cu bucata lipsa legata de gat etc).
“… a treia zi se duse de dimineata in targ si veni cu doua paini mari,
ocaua dreapta, albe ca zapada. Il intrebaiu ce pane este aia? Si imi raspunse ca
este coltuc de la Babic, si imi spuse ca targul s’a umplut de paine, pentru ca
Pasa a poruncit de au spanzurat de subtiori pe trei brutari, pe unii in
Lipscani, pe altii pe Podul Targului-de-afara, pe altii pe Podul Calitei. Ah! caci
nu da Dumnezeu sa mai vie un Chehaia-beiu si acum in Bucuresti sa vaza miseria
painii si carnii, cu ce pret mare se vinde, caci atunci ocaua de paine dreapta
era patru parale si ocaua de carne opt parale, cand traia saracul si bogatul”.
– (Izvoare contemporane ale miscarii lui Tudor Vladimirescu“ de N.IORGA.)”
Cum orice inceput are si un sfarsit, tot asa si epopeea lui Babic se incheie
in jurul anului 1820 cand unii sustin ca nemaiputand sa mentina calitatea
produselor fara sa insele la cantar a inchis brutaria. Dupa altii, ba dimpotriva,
“a fost ispitit si indemnat de ideia diavoleasca, sa inceapa a nu mai da
coltucul, de o oca deplina” si a fost tintuit de usa pravaliei de citeva ori
doua ceasuri.
In ideea de a se reabilita, aplica o strategie care il va duce la ruina.
Acesta va vinde painea la un gramaj mai mare decat cel reglementat, diferenta
suportand-o din propriul buzunar. Asa se face ca din “om cuprins, cu cateva
perechi de case si bani ghiata” ajunge lucrator la un fost concurent al sau
ceea ce ii va aduce sfarsitul in 1821 “de inima rea”.
Care dintre cele doua versiuni este cea adevarata nu putem spune cu
certitudine, putem insa sa ne imaginam filmul acestei mici legende urbane
legate de un brutar armean din vechiul Bucuresti.
P.S. In Memoriile criticului literar Serban Cioculescu gasim o referire
interesanta legata de Babic:
«Coltucul babei» era etimologia populara a dictonului «coltuc de la Babic»,
celebrul franzelar armean din Baratia Bucurestilor, la inceputul veacului
trecut. Produsele lui, de cea mai fina calitate, se vindeau in zorii zilei si
cine se trezea mai tirziu se intorcea acasa cu mainile goale si cu raspunsul
stereotip:
— Ce-am luat? Coltuc de la Babic! ( nimic!).
ENGLISH VERSION
The story begins at the beginning of the century in the 19th century when an Armenian baker named Babic managed to write history in the Old Bucharest with the bread he made. It is said that he was so skilled in making various kinds of bread that there was never enough of his stock for all the customers. According to some, he would have had his bakery in the Baratia area – Piata de Flori – Targul din Launtru in Bucharest.
His breads had something special, a gingerbread taste, being leavened according to complicated patterns, from the purest flour, sifted several times, left to rise, again leavened and kneaded to be baked in ovens “in conditions completely taken care of”. He made bread for the common people, but also for the aristocracy of the time “cakes for holidays, for weddings and baptisms; funeral coils; notched buns in the shape of different birds (a special innovation of his, the joy of children); pretzels with sugar, honey and sesame; the most delicious meat and cheese pie. During the winter, next to the bread, huge pumpkins were baked in the ovens for the nobles’ tables, large three-oca cakes (3kg) with nuts and raisins, filled with pineapple fillets, woven into all shapes and figures”.
However, the product that consecrated him will be “Babic’s loaf”, a bread similar in shape to our bread today, prepared according to a recipe that many tried unsuccessfully to imitate. In those days, breed was usually round, being an easier shape to produce and handle, so the long, two-headed shape with which Babic came to the market aroused everyone’s curiosity. Every morning all the administrative staff of aristocracy courts had orders from their lords not to return without at least a piece of bread from Babic.
In the whole city, there was only talk about these wonderful loafs that “melted in the mouth”, it had reached a hilarious hyperbolisation, some claimed that “no search for a doctor was able to cure their stomach, like this loaf of Babic”. It is said that Babic was famous for his fairness, a rare thing among the bakers of those times who used to cheat on the weight of the products despite the very exotic punishments (belt beating, “sensible” fines, sole beating, nailing to the door of the shop with the missing piece of breed tied to neck etc).
“… the third day he went to the market in the morning and came with two large loaves, straight, white as snow. I asked him what kind of bread is that? And he answered me that it was Babic’s loaf, and he told me that the fair was filled with bread, because the Pasha ordered three bakers to be hanged upside down, some in Lipscani, others on the Targului-de-afara Bridge , others on the Calitei Bridge. Ah! for God forbid that another Chehaia-bey should come and now in Bucharest to see the misery of bread and meat, at what a high price it is sold, because then the loaf of bread was four parals and the loaf of meat eight parals, when the poor and the rich lived “. – (Contemporary sources of Tudor Vladimirescu’s movement” by N.IORGA.)”
As every beginning has an end, Babic’s epic also ends around 1820, when some claim that, unable to maintain the quality of the products without cheating on the scale, he closed the bakery. According to others, on the contrary, “he was tempted and urged by the diabolical idea, to start not giving up the loaf, for a correct weight” and he was nailed to the door of the shop several times for two hours. Intending torehabilitating himself, he applies a strategy that will lead him to ruin. He will sell the bread at a bigger weight than the regulated one, bearing the difference from his own pocket. That’s how it happens that from “a wealthy man, with a few pairs of houses and cash” he becomes a worker to a former competitor of his, which will bring him to an end in 1821 “with a bad heart”.
We cannot say for sure which of the two versions is the true one, but we can imagine the film of this little urban legend related to an Armenian baker from old Bucharest.
P.S. In the Memoirs of the literary critic Serban Cioculescu we find an interesting reference related to Babic: “Crone’s loaf” was the popular etymology of the saying “Babic’s loaf”, the famous Armenian baker from Baratia Bucharest, at the beginning of the last century. His products, of the finest quality, were sold at dawn, and those who woke up later returned home empty-handed and with the stereotypical answer:
“What did I get?” A piece of breed from Babic! ( meaning nothing!).
Paul Agopian
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