ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT
BREAD PROJECT
THE SOCIOLOGIST
Baked, fried or steamed, bread is often called the "staff of life." It has been basic foodstuff for a
variety of cultures for millenia. Bread isn't just a source of nutrition. It has taken on remarkable
cultural and symbolic significance, from its inclusion as an element of the Christian Eucharist to
its use as a metaphor for money
As a foodstuff of great historical and contemporary importance, in many cultures in
the West and Near and Middle East bread has a significance beyond mere
nutrition. The Lord's Prayer, for example, contains the line "Give us this day our
daily bread"; here, "bread" is commonly understood to mean necessities in general.
Bread is also significant in Christianity as one of the elements (alongside wine) of
the Eucharist
The word bread is now commonly used around the world in English speaking
countries as a synonym for money (as also is the case with the word dough).
The cultural importance of "bread" goes beyond slang, to serve as a
metaphor for basic necessities and living conditions in general. A "breadwinner" is a household's main economic contributor and has little to do with actual breadprovision, for example. This also goes along with the phrase "putting bread on the table"
Bread is the staple ( main) food in Europe, European-derived cultures such as the Americas,
and the Middle East/North Africa, as opposed to East Asia whose staple is rice.
Germany prides itself on having the largest variety of breads worldwide. More than 300-500
basic kinds of bread come together with more than 1,000 types of small bread-rolls and
pastries. Germans are worldwide the biggest consumers (per capita) of bread followed by Chile.
There are many variations on the basic recipe of bread
worldwide, including pizza and focaccia ( in Italy), chapatis, naan
and puris ( in South Asia : India, Pakistan...), tortillas (in Mexico),
bocadillo ( in Spain), baguettes and brioche ( in France), pitas (
in Eastern Mediterranean countries), lavash ( in Southwest Asia),
pretzels ( in the USA) . bagels ( in Jewish culture) and many
others.
In Britain, there is a wide
variety of traditional breads, often
baked in a rectangular tin.
Superstitions
In many countries it is thought that a loaf baked on Good Friday morning and kept until the
following year is an effective medicine against stomach disorders. The patient grates a little of
the stale loaf into water, drinks it, and hopes for the best. Another special virtue attributed to
bread baked on Good Friday is that it does not go mouldy like ordinary bread.
Among the deep-sea fishermen on the Grand Banks, many superstitions still live on; one
concerning bread is that when a member of the crew is lost overboard, a slice of bread with a
lighted candle on it is put over the side and floated away to comfort the spirit of the drowned
man.
Many a housewife who made and baked her bread at home made the sign of the cross upon
each loaf, perhaps to bring good luck, or to guard against bad luck.