The Staff of Life

No, Tinker Belle, it’s not what you’re thinking, so quit snickering like a little girl.  I’m referring to bread.  I find bread an interesting phenomenon.  It is a universal staple, although varying greatly in design from culture to culture.  I know people who adore bread.  They would prefer it to any other food.  It seems to have a narcotic quality for some, generating a near orgasmic response.  Of course, as with most subtle nuance, I don’t get it.

My mother was the product of a large (fifteen siblings) farming family.  Whenever her brothers visited my childhood home, she served bread with the evening meal.  This was a change of custom compared to our nuclear family’s epicurean practice.  After some puzzling over this alteration, I stumbled (mentally, I didn’t really fall down) onto the driver.  It originated with my mother’s childhood home experience.  Her brothers (and I suppose sisters, as well) were the core of the agricultural work force.  They were all strapping lads (and lasses) who I am certain required a rather large calorie intake to fuel the physical exertions demanded by their chores.  Bread, being relatively inexpensive compared to meat and garden vegetables, and a fuel food (carbohydrate), they were encouraged to make it a key element of their diet.

When I was a young child, my mother baked all the bread consumed in our household, even though there were just the three of us.  It must have been a holdover from her days on the farm.  That practice ended when I was about five or six years of age; the result of an unfortunate car-door vs. finger incident that left my mother unable to knead the bread dough.  I remember being pressed into service; sent off to the local neighborhood store on my bicycle, a quarter and dime in my pocket, charged with the assignment of purchasing a pre-sliced loaf of Wonder Bread (or Weber’s, depending on the stock available).  Even after the finger was healed, our home bread baking practice was not reinstated… modern convenience had broken the chain of tradition.

Sharing this story with friends, while waxing nostalgic, always seems to evoke a response of pity.  “Oh how sad, you had to eat store bought.  Didn’t you miss that wonderful smell of fresh baked bread?”  Well actually no, I didn’t.  When you get fresh baked bread every day, the smell is just part of the environment.  And you don’t notice a smell that isn’t there.  Your brain reacts to present stimulus, not to its absence.  Think about it.  Have you ever suddenly wondered, “Where are all the skunks today?” And as far as I could tell, with my as yet unsophisticated palate, bread was bread.

Now don’t take this to mean I don’t appreciate bread.  As an ancillary food, it has many, many uses of great value to modern society.

·         Dinner rolls are very handy for eating butter without getting your fingers greasy.

·         Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches would be impossible to eat without sliced bread. (see www.daleholbrookoutwest.blogspot.com – “A Sticky Test” 4/18/13)

·         Your deli sandwich would be little better than a chef’s salad without bread.

·         Rye bread has caraway seeds to get stuck in your teeth; hours of fun for your tongue. (see www.dalesoutwesttravels.blogspot.com – “Anza Borrego – 2014” 2/21/14)

·         Without the hot dog bun, you would get mustard all over your shirt.

·         Hamburger buns prevent burnt fingers.

·         Tacos would have no crunch without the shell; you’re gonna spill either way so that’s not a factor.

·         Although carne asada is the principal attraction, a burrito is not a burrito without the flour tortilla; if fact, it’s just a bowl of meat.

·         Thanksgiving wouldn’t be such a big deal without the stuffing: Thank you Mrs. Cubbisson.

·         For that matter, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without the after-dinner turkey-on-roll sandwich; loosen that belt another notch, Frank.

·         How many people would be unable to hold a job without their morning ration of cream cheese?  Pass the bagel please.

·         You would leave sausage gravy on your plate without the biscuit to sop it up.

·         What would we do with all that cinnamon and icing without the roll?

So there you have it; from pita to croissant, bagel to biscuit, bread has a valuable roll (no pun intended) in a food delivery system (that’s getting the groceries from you plate to your mouth), but it is not a meal in itself.

In our next food posting (as yet unscheduled) we will discuss the value of creamed vegetables.