Bread
Bread is viewed as a holy food, here. It's never wasted; if there is leftover bread, the pieces are picked up from the table and stuffed into a bag for beggars and bread collectors to take. These bread collectors wander the streets calling out, "xobz! Bread! (old) bread!" One in particular walks about pulling his donkey laden with 2 milk crates strapped like saddle bags.
Bread is baked fresh 3 times a day; for breakfast, lunch, and evening tea/dinner. Although there are a couple of bakeries in our general neighborhood, the closest place to buy it is at the hanut (corner grocery store). Hanut bread is delivered in little white cars - 20-30 year old Renault 4's. They lay some cardboard in the back and dump stacks of round and parisian bread on it. No bags. The driver carries them bare handed into the hanut. Once, I saw a guy drop a loaf on the sidewalk. Without missing a beat, he picked it up and took it inside. No one saw it except me. Made me think about the next time I bought bread!
Normally, people eat bread carefully. It's considered rude to leave a small mouth-sized piece.
The other day, two women dropped in for supper. We bought special brioche (sweet bread) to eat. One lady ate the breadcrust, leaving the white inside on the table. *
I asked, "Why didn't she eat the white part of the bread?"
"Because of the white color, she doesn't believe it's baked enough!"
And there are many others like her.
* the opposite of my childhood: kids ate the white bread inside and left the breadcrust.
Bread is baked fresh 3 times a day; for breakfast, lunch, and evening tea/dinner. Although there are a couple of bakeries in our general neighborhood, the closest place to buy it is at the hanut (corner grocery store). Hanut bread is delivered in little white cars - 20-30 year old Renault 4's. They lay some cardboard in the back and dump stacks of round and parisian bread on it. No bags. The driver carries them bare handed into the hanut. Once, I saw a guy drop a loaf on the sidewalk. Without missing a beat, he picked it up and took it inside. No one saw it except me. Made me think about the next time I bought bread!
Normally, people eat bread carefully. It's considered rude to leave a small mouth-sized piece.
The other day, two women dropped in for supper. We bought special brioche (sweet bread) to eat. One lady ate the breadcrust, leaving the white inside on the table. *
I asked, "Why didn't she eat the white part of the bread?"
"Because of the white color, she doesn't believe it's baked enough!"
And there are many others like her.
* the opposite of my childhood: kids ate the white bread inside and left the breadcrust.
posted by Carl | 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
I enjoyed this little "slice of life." Quirky things like how people eat bread and what they consider leftover versus trash vs. recyclable...these really transport me abroad. Thanks!
Dorothea
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