Curiosity Index No.2 BREAD
Dear Friends, How can you avoid bread when you live in France? Impossible.
The baguette has become a national symbol.
So many french expressions are related to bread. Avoir du blé (to have wheat, meaning having money), Avoir du pain sur la planche (having bread on the board: meaning having work to do), Être dans le pétrin (to be in the bread kneader: meaning to be in shit), Casser la croûte (to break the crust: to have lunch), Vendre comme des petits pains ( to sell like little bread, meaning to sell fast) and so many more. Even Proust's madeleine was toasted bread in the first version of Remembrance of Things Past written in 1907. It became a biscotte in the second one and finally a madeleine in the last one.
Our Curiosity Index No.2 (we hope you enjoyed No.1) is about this basic necessity: BREAD. Bread as a means of survival, as a protected cultural heritage, as furniture, as a rythme of human life.
So many french expressions are related to bread. Avoir du blé (to have wheat, meaning having money), Avoir du pain sur la planche (having bread on the board: meaning having work to do), Être dans le pétrin (to be in the bread kneader: meaning to be in shit), Casser la croûte (to break the crust: to have lunch), Vendre comme des petits pains ( to sell like little bread, meaning to sell fast) and so many more. Even Proust's madeleine was toasted bread in the first version of Remembrance of Things Past written in 1907. It became a biscotte in the second one and finally a madeleine in the last one.
Our Curiosity Index No.2 (we hope you enjoyed No.1) is about this basic necessity: BREAD. Bread as a means of survival, as a protected cultural heritage, as furniture, as a rythme of human life.
A 1981 very short documentary by INA (Institut National Audiovisuel)
on Lionel Poilâne making an 18th century Spanish furniture piece out of bread for Dali. Poilâne says that he has already made a 4m long bread, a nativity scene, and is preparing to make a TV for Dali. This piece, which is for Gala’s room, is the beginning of a furniture collection all made of bread, the most noble and obsessing material according to Salvatore Dali.
Each type of bread has its rhythm in the gestures of the maker, this one is the rhythm of the Indian Paratha bread. This is the one for Lavash, the Armenian flat bread that is now on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
"Bread and Games" attributed to Juvenal the Roman poet, is used commonly in political contexts. The phrase means to generate public approval not by excellence in public service or public policy, but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace , referring to superficial appeasement by offering a palliative: for example food (bread) and entertainment (circuses).
Among so many kitchen utensils, Alexander Calder made 5 wire and wood toasters that actually functioned. The wire disc on this one, made in 1942, keeps the slice warm while the butter is melting. A genious-
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kirostami's first short film Bread and Alley (1970) tells the sweet story of a boy returning home from the bakery with bread who is menaced by a dog in an alley in 10 mn.
PS. Mother of Northern Indian percussion instruments, the pakhawaj is a two sided tambour made of wood and goat skin. On the small side, the goat skin is pulled tightly with a metallic spot on top to produce a higher tone. On the other side, the goat skin is pulled less tightly, producing a very resonating bass thanks to the application of a dough made of chapati flour called atta.
Thank you again for taking the time, please don’t hesitate to comment, share and open up your world to us.
Lots of love, Talin
