Go Goa Series: In an age when breads are sold in exorbitantly-priced packages in most cities of India, the Goan pao and poi is unbelievably priced at Rs 5 each! Asrashaheen.in brings you glimpses of a decades-old home bakery run by cousins Inacio C Fernandes and Salvador Fernandes in Benaulim, Goa. As the quaint village calls it a day, their humble setup, snuggled and burrowed in their rustic home in one of the sleepy winding lanes, is bustling in action.
Here’s a photo feature of the relentlessly toiling poders (home bakers) baking pao and poi through the night. Early morning, the poders are out cycling their way to the doorsteps of eager locals and tourists awaiting the freshly-baked breads for their breakfast.
Every morning, the Goan dining tables are almost ready with their favourite sausages and bacon or xacuti or the sunny side up glistening on the plates. While some of this may have been instantly prepared, others could be carried forward from previous night’s leftover. However, it’s the quintessential bread that’s the most awaited to be relished with the spiced up meaty or veggie bites. The plonks of cycling poders (local name for home bakers) selling freshly-baked pao (known as pav in Mumbai and other parts of India), poi and a host of other breads is an unmissable part of Goan life. While the breads rejuvenate the mornings in the coastal state, it’s the relentless, toiling nights and early mornings of the poders that makes it possible for these yummy bakes to reach every plate, lavish and humble alike.
Asrashaheen.in brings you glimpses of a decades-old home bakery run by Inacio C Fernandes and his cousin Salvador Fernandes. Started by their paternal grandmother in 1950s, the bakery has been a long-standing custodian of the Goan breads and baking traditions. The Fernandes cousins gave us a glimpse of their unpretentious setup where they bake pao and poi along with three of their helping poders. Inacio also throws light on why the baking tradition in this once Portuguese-ruled region is waning off. However, although home baking may not be a lucrative professional choice for young Goans, it is interesting to note that this was the only business that couldn’t be locked down even during pandemic times. Inacio remembers how the poders employed with him, who belong to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, stay put at their home bakery during both the lockdowns. “The business was never shut down, in fact the pao and poi were the only food people could lean back on at a time when everything else was closed,” he recollects.
As the quaint Benaulim village calls it a day, the dimly-lit home bakeries such as this one, are bustling in action. These bakeries are snuggled in sleepy winding lanes and burrowed in one of the rustic homes. “They like to work this way in dim light. It’s more comfortable for them,” informs Inacio. It all starts with dough mixing at precisely 7:30 pm in the evening. “Timing and temperature are everything in baking,” explains Inacio. Once the dough has risen, around 10:15 pm, all the poders get-together in brisk action, shaping the breads and tossing them over in the furnace. The baking goes on until the early hours. Rows and trays of pao and poi are hustling in and out of the oven. With hardly any time left to deliver, the poders catch up with an hour or two of sleep and are up and ready by 5 am. They have stacked the paos and pois in a cane basket attached to their cycles and wrapped in a blue tarpaulin sheet.
At a time when bread slices, buns and pavs are sold in packages in most other cities of India, where they cost anywhere between Rs 20 – Rs 50 on an average, the Goan pao and poi are unbelievably priced at Rs 5 each! No wonder it continues to remain the lifeline of breakfast in Goa.
