Would Starbucks be full of barmen and barwomen if it wasn’t for the fascists?
Over the last year or so, as we developed the Simple Smart Coffee Brewer, with its Encapsulated Pour-Over method, we came across many interesting coffee facts and developed a few, possibly provocative, thoughts about the world of coffee.
This is one of a series of articles we have produced to share these facts and thoughts.
We knew we’d never get involved with making espresso style coffee. It totally goes against our ‘simple is beautiful’ ethic. But while researching its origins and development, we came across an interesting suggestion. ‘Barista’ might be, in some way, a consequence of fascism!
The Word not the Person
To be clear we are not suggesting that the presumably delightful person who prepares your coffee order has any unsavory political leanings. It’s the use of the word that may have its roots in fascist Italy. The word existed before then, but is seems it was promoted by the desires of Il Duce and his regime. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. There’s an American link.
The American Link
In the late 1800’s American style cocktail bars started to appear in Italy and they tended to be called American Bars. As you can imagine customers would order and consume their drinks while standing at the bar; different from the prevailing cafe culture with table service. In Italy, the drinks could be an alcoholic cocktail or a coffee. The drinks, were of course, served by a ‘barkeeper’ or a ‘barman’. And, given the American link, the use of the English word barman was not uncommon (barkeeper, less so). In fact, according to my Google Translate, the Italian for barman is in fact barman … although it is, of course, pronounced with more gusto.
Fascist Regime and Italian Language
The nationalist regime that dominated Italy from the early 1920’s until its demise in the Second World War, had a goal of unifying the Italian language to solidify national identity, among other things. After all, a language makes a people.
The policy of removing non-Italian words from the national vocabulary went as far as changing last names. Many a Kostner became a Costa. In fact, Hitler and Mussolini made a deal in 1939 that German-speaking residents of Italy could either emigrate to Germany or Croatia or must Italianize their names. The process even applied to famous individuals having their name changed - or at least how they would be referred to in Italian modified; one example is that Louis Armstrong was to be referred to as Luigi Braccioforte.
Back To Our Bars
So, I am sure you can see where this is going. In the bars serving cocktails and coffee there were changes required by the regime. Cocktails were to be called bevanda arlecchina – literally harlequin drink - and, of course, they were to be served by a barista.
Unlike many other Italianized terms introduced during the Fascist era, barista has had lasting success and is universally understood to mean an individual skilled in preparing and serving espresso-based drinks, reflecting both its Italian origins and the global influence of Italian coffee culture.
So, would Starbucks be full of barmen and barwomen if it wasn’t for the fascists?