All of a sudden bread has become important. Every time I have gone to the supermarket to get flour – there’s none, sold out. Why – under chaos – have we all ditched our carb-free lifestyles to become a society that now needs to become professional bread makers and eaters?
Bread evokes something quite primitive in us. Have you ever walked into a kitchen where bread is cooking? Our senses activate. We salivate. Have you ever been on a keto diet and all you think about is bread! The smell of toast drives you nuts.
Bread is comfort too – we feel relaxed and sleepy after a good serving of it and need a wee lie down. Usually if there is nothing to eat, there is always bread. If we have bread we will be ok.
But there is also nostalgia in these magical grains. Me and my cousins grew up on making bread – kneading bread – eating bread – the smell of our Nan’s bug over flowing from its jar above the kitchen fireplace mantle – the sound of our Nan calling out the door to come in from outside to help knead – and us kids, slightly annoyed at our play being disrupted. We would construct funny shapes and figures to be fried up and gobbled. Those memory’s wrap around me.
Religiously, bread plays a huge role in the bible. We break bread. We share the body of Christ through bread. Bread is believed to be a gift from God. Jesus fed the masses with bread. Bread is used as a vehicle of transition to the spiritual life. But that’s the thing though – our simple things, our family relationships, our taken for granted things are the actual bridges to accessing a divine essence. Perhaps we are trying to return to these warm memories, connecting to our grandparents, connecting to an older time, where their was a deeper knowing.
Moral of the story, lets eat bread! Now pair that loaf with some wine and cheese – oh! Now you’re living the heavenly dream!
kneading rewana, I hear my grandmothers hand teaching me – keedy marmye
Exploring the depths of the Maori Experience 