Our daily bread

Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash

Have you ever considered bread as a luxury? 

I never did, until a couple of weeks ago. In my role with Wycliffe, I write a regular prayer email and one of them concerned a couple who were visiting a language community in a sensitive part of Nigeria. For them, bread was a luxury something only people with money could buy. This created a translation problem. How do you translate Jesus' words 'I am the bread of life'?

They used the word nyiru, a pancake made using sorghum flour, and eaten at every single meal - no meal was complete without nyiru. Isn't that what Jesus was saying? That he is for everyone, every day? So the local translators made the decision to say that Jesus is the nyiru of life.

You may be wondering why I'm writing about bread? It's all because of Radio 4. The other day, I had a George Michael song in my head and I wanted to replace it with something else so I  turned on the radio, and this was on Slow Rise: A Bread-Making Adventure.  It's their book of the week, and it's absolutely fascinating. All about a man's search for the perfect bread made from ancient grains. I thought this is brilliantly written, and then I discovered it was written by a journalist, so it's not surprising. It's well worth a listen. 

This then got me thinking about food that appears in books, especially as our own Ruth Leigh  writes so deliciously about it in her book The Diary of Isabella M Smugge. A woman who would never serve you anything unless it sounds like it's appeared on MasterChef or Nigella Lawson's table. I'm about a quarter of the way though and it's an absolute delight! 

Have you ever read Saturday by Ian McEwan? A fascinating novel involving brain surgery, an anti-war demonstration and an almost step by step guide to making a fish stew. At only 300 words it's short, but you will never forget it. 

The only experience I've had writing about food is for Scala radio. It's been going since May 2019, and it's like Classic Fm. They used to have this unique slot during the drive-time show where the presenter reads out what the listeners are having for dinner, and chooses a piece of music to pair with one or two of the dishes. It's a lot of fun, especially as food that Eva or I have prepared has been selected about 5 or  6 times. One of most memorable was when they chose the chase scene from the Bond film 'For Your eyes only' to go with the Bubble and Squeak that I was making. 

I'd love to hear your favourite literarily  descriptions of food in the comments. Be that Enid Blyton or Dickens. 

Until we meet again, may your writing simmer slowly away or bake till it's golden brown! 

Martin is a writer, baker, photographer and storyteller. He's been published in the ACW Christmas anthology and Lent devotional. He's currently honing his craft at flash fiction and you can find him on Twitter here.