Bread is the nutritional cornerstone of all the civilizations that handle the growth of cereals and the art of baking.
The Egyptians knew for instance 40 different types of bread and of cakes and they would commonly use the words “bread” and “beer” during their rituals. These two essential types of food would be the present in the afterworld.
In ancient Orient, bread was never cut but always “broke” which meant figuratively that “many would eat together”. Gradually this food was considered in the symbolic sense and the twelve bread shown in the Temple (Ancient Testament) are the symbol of the food for the spirit.
In the New Testament, reference is made to the fact that “man cannot only live of (material) bread” and so, during the Eucharist, men receive with the wine, the bread of life, which is the food for the soul.
The cycle of transformation of the cereal can also be transposed to the life of man: being planted, then mown and cooked. This way the soul would also be prepared for the divine feast.
So now you take the floor : what do you associate with Bread?
The thoughts expressed by Paulo made me think of Satish Kumar, founder and editor of Resurgence. He often speaks of bread, for him it is a humbling and spiritual experience to make bread, something he learnt from Gandhi.
I also thought of my lovely friend Iva from Prague and when we first me. She came to my house and started eating a wholemeal loaf of bread as though she had never eaten before. Do you not want anything else to eat I asked her. No she replied, I’m just grateful to be able to eat real bread. She then told me how in Prague there are bakers everywhere and how she could always get real bread and that was one of the things she missed in England, real bread, and this was the first time she had ate real bread since her arrival in England.
We then went to Farnham, a small market town, where we sat outside an old pub and drank real ale, one of those other great products from grain.
In England few people now know what is real bread. All the bakers have gone. All that is left is the rubbish that supermarkets sell which is jokingly called bread.
After I had noted these thoughts, I went shopping and had a similar conversation with a baker. He made the same point, people have got so used to buying ‘bread’ from supermarkets that they no longer know what is real bread.
Bread reminds me of a book (one of my favourite books of all time) I read many years ago called ‘The Baker’s Boy’ by female writer; J.V. Jones. It is a fantasy novel set in medieval times in a world or magic. It is the first book in the trilogy The Book of Words. Following books; A Man Betrayed & Master and Fool.
(I really can’t remember much as I read the book 14 years ago)
The main character Jack is a servant working in a castle as a helping hand to the baker. One of the exciting developments is when Jack falls asleep and he lets the bread burn. On awakening, he realises what has happened and he accidentally unleashes a wave of magical power un-burning the bread.
I lent the book to a friend, which was never returned :(
I associate bread with memories of when I was younger and my family was too poor to eat in a restaurant. My mother used to buy “bolillos,” avocados, and fresh cheese and would make us “tortas” for lunch. We would park our car in a parking lot, and eat the tortas while listening to the radio.
hmmm lets see,
bread reminds me of the yummy smell of fresh loaf bread from the market where grandpa bought home on a sunday morning during my childhood, the aroma of love and tenderness grandpa shared in his own ways to his grandchild, putting on tons of butter on the bread for me, wiping my face each time as i ate greedily …
so bread reminds me of my grandpa and the little happy memories i had with him during my childhood days …
up to this day, bread is still my favourite staple ..
bread with lots of butter, bread with soups, bread with japanese mushroom potatoes curry ! all the ways grandpa taught me … ^__^
Ancient Mystery. The Passion of Osiris.
Wheat symbolising Osiris/or Johnnie Headcorn/Jesus
Water symbolising Isis/Mary
Yeast symbolising divine breath – Life/Holy Spirit
Group Work, Nature, the farmer, the miller, the baker, the consumer
The cycle of life. Sacrifice and Ressurection. Life giving.
“The death of the grain and the death of the god were one and the same: the cereal was identified with the god who came from heaven; he was the bread by which man lives. The resurrection of the god symbolized the rebirth of the grain.” (Larson 17)
(Bread = Life)
no puedo comer pan, mi cuerpo no lo tolera.
Pero siempre hay alguna alternativa
This blog is a communion, and this post so very natural. We are breaking bread together today, maybe next week we will share wine, providing Señor Coelho will grace us with that free association.
Bread is an international symbol of hearth and home, the body of the divine and food for the masses. Baking it is the first joy, sharing it the second. I love it’s smell and taste inspite of the calories. I would have to say that my two favorite breads are an apple bread I’ve made since I was 13 years old and corn bread. To me they are both ritual breads as the apple when cut open reveals the universal star and corn represents an abundant harvest. Please feel free to click on my name to visit my webspace for the recipes. I close this post singing, Let us break bread together on the web… Smiles and Hugs, Karen in Canada.
I love bread! But I love real bread, one that is my grandmother used to bake. But even though she doesn’t make it enymore, when I hear “bread”, I think about Ukrainian just baked frsh bread… From my not very big town… You can find it in the stores,and I think it’s amazing! My favorite is “black” bread like we call it. I’ve never tried something like it in every other country (I sorry, don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings)! I am half world from home now and when I hear “bread”, I think about home. It is very traditional,very Ukrainian. And it’s probably the main dish in my country,we eat it with every meal. And we have a very old tradition to meet foreigners with bread and salt which means that we ready to share all we have with them. Please, come to Ukraine! I am sure that you’ll love it!
yea… i like bread.
Bread is food and we should share the resources of this Earth.
If we share our knowledge how to share, it will be enough for everyone.
Love Jessica
Bread is viewed in a range of forms such as a staple or optional side dish. Its use as a food in the physical world is based on availability, cost and preference. In formless worlds, spirit have no need for physical sustenance. However, the symbolism that one cannot live by on bread alone is a more far-reaching phrase than is often realized.
Bread – it smells like home. I recently got a breadmaker so our home smells so nice! I make all these lovely loafs and my family really enjoys it. Well I associate bread with sharing (I wonder where I got that one from ;-). With sharing and with being with others. So nice, so cosy and so safe…
Bread?
Oh… the best thing, a fresh oven baked tandoori bread, or french baguette…
soft and warm on the inside, and crunchy on the outside…
when you spread the butter, and it instantaneously melts…
and you bite into it… crunch… I can taste it now!
What a wonderful thing!
The bread is a symbol for (the living of the life)it take’s that meaning to me from two sides (as the both side of the coin) :
1-from the accredited side: the bread take’s it’s essence from it’s shape which is the CIRCLE which represent the infinity with no beginning nor ending, so the bread existed and will always exist as the SUN, GHANDI’S WEAVER ,and THE GALAXYS PATHS IN THE UNIVERSE.
2-the usage side: it represent human been struggle to exist.
and following on from Irina Black’s answer, also…
perfection
… but then when can food ever be guilt free?
[not talking necessarily of diet foods ;o) rather poverty…
so sacrament bread can only allow this ultimately.
I agree with Irina Black.
Bread represents the everyday resurrection that feed us and allow us to go on.
Have Good Easter everybody, with good bread.
This week, the bread sure tastes differently. And what makes me humble about it – it seems to feed better, seems to make me feel full more, while needing less.
Sending You my love,
Liina L.
stability and security… to have bread chosen over love is something that happens everyday. I want to have both for myself in the future! :)
Only things that are build with brick are crumbling or decays,…things that are build with Love will never be destroyed!
Love,
Mirela(the woman in elevator)
I always think of the story of the ’seeds’(*New Testament*) where one seed fell and had no roots so the sun burnt it, another did not go into the ground because it was solid and it was eaten by birds, another was choked by weeds and yet another grew in good ground. It is a good metaphor for the various types of people walking around. They appear the same, but one has to dig a little deeper to see which grows well so to speak.
-C
Resurrection.Corn-Flour-Bread.(About Perfection)
The Bread of the people. The reason for .. revolutions.
I remember Marie Antoinette answering: ‘Since they do not have bread to eat, they should eat ..cake!’
Yes, dearest Annie and Paul from Austria, we can live only with bread and just by smelling it we forget about .. diets.
There is a Greek saying: We have eaten together bread and olives[Φάγαμε μαζύ ψωμί και ελιές]. Meaning that we are so good friends that we have shared our lives in poverty.
Bread and wine in Christianity, in the Last Supper, symbolizes the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.
LOVE,
Thelma.
Savitha and Rosanna – liked your associations on the topic.
Bread,is very important in Romania like all around the world!Maybe because the ground was since old times very fertile.
Even the poorest, have bread at home!
A very old and typical Ritual to Welcome Guests,is to give him/her a big fresh baked Bread to taste it with a bit of Salt!
Love,
Mirela(the woman in elevator)
Liisa – I was curious enough to have a peep.
Looks good, thanks.
Love
Food. God gave me food. Gratitude.
the breaking of bread [and representation of body of christ in catholism]…the lords prayer…our daily bread.. our basic staple.. communal food.. feeding hte 5000…
i also remember that a peace activist – satish kumar – spoke at a lecture on peace and harmony
using bread alone to demonstrate the nature of our world, lives, relationships, mind/body… etc etc.
bread to feed the ducks in the village pond…
bread and butter pudding …. not so bad.
toast and sandwiches.
continental breakfast… bread and jam/marmalade.
soup and bread bun.
bread for hte poor [imagery]
bread ovens..
bakeries…
…. our daily bread. ;o)
A PRAYER x
What a timing! Last Friday was the deadline for our latest photographic project in college, with the theme ‘Bread of Life’. Six weeks ago this blog would perhaps have helped me to decide what to photograph, but since this question is proposed after the project, I shall share the outcomes here. After some consideration I ended up photographing the different chakras in relation to the human body. With this I attempted to illustrate the life force energy. If anyone’s curious to see the photos, I put a couple of them up in flickr. You can click my blue name above to get there. Thanks.
I think of the types of breads common in my culture (African American and southern). Cornbread, hot water bread, and buttermilk biscuits make me think of family and home.
bread is life is the basic is the bendicion b4 eating a big meal in our religion
and we have a say
if u dont have bread u dont have bible just this comparison!!!
i never throw bread only if its bad and i kiss it b4 i have to throw it!
I am on a gluten free diet and I am also allergic to maize and corn so I miss out on tasting all those everyday breads and sumptious desserts.( I appreciated in Paris on St .Josephs celebration ,that my son Kealan had mentioned this to Paula and that Paulo remembered this also ,on greeting me there )I have not sourced many alternative receipes which could after all ,offer me more choice i-f I took myself more seriously.
In Paris -the restaurant Manager and all the staff were aware I was severly allergic to gluten and I felt very safe-some times I am lied to in restaurants especially re soup ingrediants.
Good night!
Breda
A Greek/Lebanese man once told me; ‘If you want to become rich, sell bread, which people need to buy every day’.
Hi Annie! Long Time No See. Little bakery shops like that are irresistible.
Dear all,
-”Give me bread to eat and I will give you ideas to research.”
************************
Bread
************************
“Bread and wine,
Music rhymes
Life sucks
Moment of despair..,
Vanity is at stake
Potentials of Next War
Between religions and boundaries
Human lives at bake..”
***********************************
God bless you all !
Bread-sandwiches, crust, loaf, baking, simple, rising, shapes, culture.
it reminds me of a a bakery shop, i used to pass by before school, and i always loved to breath in the fresh from the oven bread!! :) but i prefer the cereal now more than bread…
Love and Graditude
Annie
En algún sitio leí que mi nombre, Belén, significa ” casa del pan”
pan es el alimento básico de los humanos; el alimento por definición. cuando un pobre pide, lo hace para el pan de sus hijos, si los adultos trabajamos lo hacemos para el pan de los nuestros.
Pan es el cuerpo de Cristo que alimenta a la humanidad aunque el fundamentalismo cristiano esté ultrajando ese alimento de paz, amor y perdón.
Bread
Everydayhappiness
Fresh baked
The smell & taste
Easy loving
Nature
God`s breath
smiles in me*
RESPECT
In Estonia, when it was under Russia, in the Soviet Union, the people were tortured and humiliated (estonians). The dictatorship was something my grandparents and parents had to bare and swollow down.
People did not get much to eat, and they did not have variable choices what to eat (as we mostly do nowadays), but there was always at least bread.
Whenever a piece of bread would fall on the floor, the person who dropped it, would pick it up, clean it, and kiss it (and sometimes they would thank the lord, if they are religious, and sometimes even if they’re not).
Respect, and thankfulness for what we have got.
Love,
Liina from Estonia
Bread reminds me of evenings spent in the veranda in my house in Goa.The old men and women waiting with their glasses of black tea and picking out the different shapes(rings,figure of 8,long,small) the beard has been baked in by the local baker known to all and then dipping it into the tea and having a nice evening making conversation with one another.Its one of those beautiful country side memories.
I can live with that…;) (bread and beer) sorry but I just couldn’t resist… ;)
but seriously… is it not far more fulfilling and useful to grow and to bake/cook/brew… than to build…? Once something is built, it eventually crumbles and decays… something grown is recycled… and keeps life alive…
Love, Paul
Dear Savita Vega, I do love the way you associated bread and wisdom, referring to the Bible.
Maybe, in the story you mentioned, bread can also be identified with LOVE: the more you spread it and the more you give it, the more you will be full of it, and that way you will never run out of love.
Unfortunately, most of the people associate love with “receiving”, instead of giving: and receiving love is something out of our control, and sometime hard to get, whereas giving love is something that is totally up to us, so we can give as much as we want, and feel blessed for every single piece of love/bread we give away.
When I think about bread, I remember when I was a kid and (when I was not at school, like in Summer) I used to play in the yard with my brother and other children living in the same area. In the morning, around 10-11 a.m., the woman from the grocery around the corner used to come with two large blue tissue bags, that she carried on her shoulder, and left several brown paper bags in the stairs which were full of bread.
On each bag they had written the family name with a pencil, so that when mom or dad got back from work for lunch (everyone there at that time used to work in a factory nearby, with the same time schedule) they could find the bread waiting for them.
I used to open my family’s bag and smell the warm bread… mmmmm… sometime I even ate a piece of bread: I could not resist that magic fragrance…
Bread is home.
Love,
Rossana
Home maybe.More country side.I remember while visiting my relatives living in country side that women there made bread in house,with own hands. Of course,baked in ovens outside the houses.So rustic. Bread was really tasty,they made bread big,and usually more ,so they last some days.The only”problem” was that,being there.fresh.hot,tasty.one for sure was tempted to eat few slides.So,they were many fat…Thats the fashion there.Sometimes I bake home bread,with whole corn flour ,or maybe with some spices.Pretty tasty.In my country,guest from abroad are welcomed with bread and salt, traditionally. Bread is a basic element as food.Just remember the prayer in which we ask for our daily bread.
MARZIPAN.
There are dozens of theories about etymology of this word.
However, according to the online dictionary, it is unclear whether its etymology derives from the Latin “Panis martius” (March Bread), or “marci panis” (St. Mark’s bread), or from Greek “Maza” (pastry) and “panem” (bread).
I bake bread all the time…bread is comfort.
Bread:nurturing,sharing,mother,labour,special,earth,the card of The Empress,realisation,wholeness,seeds,recolt,ancestors,forgotten truth.
Toasted brown bread :)
Part of the daily staple.
Love
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that A WOMAN took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
[Matthew 13:33]
ONE QUESTION: Is that woman “Cinderella”, “stepmother”, or one of “stepsisters”? ;-) :-D
The first thing that comes to my mind is the passage in the Bible wherin Jesus and his disciples feed a multitude of four-thousand, with a mere 5 (sometimes stated as 7) loaves of bread.
Wisdom is like that. If you have a bit of wisdom, and you break it off and share it with someone, within them it expands and grows (the way that yeast rises), and soon they are similarly able to break off many more pieces and feed it to others. The potential is endless. No matter how much you share, no matter how generous you are with it, there will always be more left over.
Maundy Thursday
Querido Paulo,
Pão: Eucaristia, ” o pão nosso de cada dia nos dai hj”, alimento, base, partage.
MARG,
Ca