I remember going to my grandmother’s house on baking day and
enjoying the smell of freshly baked bread, and my dad would tell me how Gram
used to bake bread a couple times a week, the surprise is that in such a large
family that she only had to make it twice. But you get into a routine, and
figure out something that works.
Baking bread has gotten so much easier. Go to a department store
or kitchen goods store and by a breadmaker. Get a boxed mix, through in some
water, put it in the breadmaker, hit the on button (or set the timer) and you
have freshly baked bread at dinner time.
And most people, me included can’t even be bother doing
that. We head to the grocery store, and buy the occasional loaf of sliced bread
for sandwiches, or different kinds of bread, including Indian Naan off the
discount rack. But not everyone has that
luxury. My mother-in law in Spain used to go shopping every day- or send one of
her daughters to the store. Down stairs out the door and down the street, making
several stops- butcher, baker, fruits and vegetable stand. Every day there was
a routine for caring for the family, fix and eat breakfast, start preparing for
the main meal served mid-afternoon, clean up, and perhaps make another run to
the store, to make sure everything needed for supper was available
In northern India many women still spend a large portion of
their day in the kitchen. They bake a lot of ‘Chapati’ -bread, a staple of
every meal, sometimes the meal. Up to three times a day they mix flour, salt,
water and oil, let the dough rise, separate into small balls, roll it out, fold
it, roll it again, and finally bake over a wood stove. Probably delicious, but
time consuming. One of these days I’m
going to try to make Chapati, but it won’t be over a wood fire.
In this country we’re used to all the modern time saving
conveniences that offer women the opportunity to go to school, to hold down a
job, to have time to take the kids to the park. It’s not that way in some parts
of the world. Women spend a good portion of their days inside a small basic
kitchen. Sometimes we go camping and cook over a wood fire, but that’s for fun,
not out of necessity.
We’re used to modern, we’re used to time saving, we’re used
to convenience. How would you like to cook every day in a kitchen like this?
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Give us this day our daily bread"
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