With a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s in Economic and Social Administration, this Breton by origin became one of the most competent financial auditors at the renowned Parisian office of the international firm Ernst & Young. His parents, delighted by their son’s clearly drawn future, a comfortable situation, and a suitable work environment, could have seen Eric becoming one of the major professionals in national and international finance.
But here’s the thing, when you are born a creator, you cannot long suppress the desire to shape, to form, to harness: in short, simply to create. Thus, on this path almost too well-drawn, and in the world that was his at the time, Eric met Nathalie Barale, also an employee in the same Parisian firm, who would later become his wife.
Nathalie Barale, as many know in the Old Town, is the daughter of an Old Nice couple specializing in the production of fresh pasta at La Maison Barale.
In 1992, Nathalie and Eric decided to take a decisive turn in their careers, and despite likely tumult from their parents who saw them already in the United States or Canada, it was in Brittany that the couple decided to settle… but to establish and manage an artisanal cheese shop.
The project was not as viable as Nathalie and Eric had hoped, leading them, nonetheless, and with the irony of hammering in still-jutting nails, to both resign from the firm they were working in. You can imagine the family reactions following a decision which, even argued for hours, remains incomprehensible to us parents today.
From their side, the Barale family still closely followed the trials of their daughter and son-in-law, and naturally, the transfer of power initially imagined, later materialized to achieve its success of today.
It has now been several years since Eric has been at the helm of the century-old machinery at the manufacturing workshop located beneath the Barale shop, where he confided in us: “I have learned to master these machines that have a story. Manual work is still very prevalent. I work very little with contemporary machinery and prefer to use the machines that my father-in-law and his father used. Indeed, it was on these machines that I learned all the basics of my craft.”
As you will have understood, precision and respect for traditions are foundational to Eric’s work, who is one of the rare manufacturers still favoring an art that is often lost to automation, which cannot replace the touch, the perception, and the calibration of one of the most consumed foods in our region: Pasta.
“Our factory was created in 1892 by our great-grandparents who came from Piedmont, and since then we have remained at the same address. We are therefore the fourth generation and we make it our duty to transmit our know-how and our traditions.” Nathalie Guernion Barale is proud of these origins that have given her this passion that has become knowledge over time, and she is, without doubt sometimes, the happiest woman in the world in her shop on Sainte Réparate Street… instead of being stuck in a traffic jam with a good quarter-hour delay for her meeting with a recalcitrant client who wants to discuss his upcoming year-end report.
Best wishes to Nathalie and Eric.
FRanck Viano
BARALE PASTA
7 rue Sainte Réparate – 06300 Vieux Nice
Tel: 04.93.85.63.08
