Bread and Butter

Butter (web picture)

I  was rather surprised to learn about the butter crisis. I thought people have given up or reduced this fatty goodness, for dietary reasons.

Well, I was wrong. This item is as popular as ever, and greatly sought after. The public is furious about the shortage which seems to have been going on since last year.
When the shortage spreads, the consumers resort to hoarding which is not a desirable phenomenon. 


Both production and Import are regulated by the state. The two ministries: Finance and Agriculture blame each other for the butter shortage. The solution - some kind of custom free temporary import.

For the last few years, scientists claim that butter is not linked to diabetes, obesity and heart disease. They don't claim that butter is a health food, but that it is not as harmful as first thought.
Anyway, butter improves and upgrades any cooking and baking. For some people, butter is everything, all things.

Butter brings back to me good memories. During winter, my parents used to eat fresh black bread topped with butter (sometimes with a piece of herring), and followed by a cup of tea. It was the greatest delicacy for them.

"Good bread is the most fundamental of all foods and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts" (James Beard in the Soup and Bread cookbook). So  very true!

White Plastic Cover Sheets

Passover is over, and so, we return to our daily routine of habits and activities.  
Holiday Breaks usually make me reflect a lot on the addictions in our life. Everyone is  addicted to something; the question is whether we can control the addiction or it controls us.  I'm glad to say: Yes, I  Can. 

Tradition, religion, culture - all give us  a fair opportunity to test the extent and severity of our addictions , and try to improve things (especially, in the area of the lighter addictions, to food and shopping). 

In judaism, the most holly day is the Atonement Day (Yom Kippur).We are supposed to fast on that day to repent for our sins, ask forgiveness,  and pray to be sealed in the book of life.
Regardless of the religious aspect,  I know I would despise myself for not  fasting on that one day, as the Fast helps  prove to myself that I'm more than just an animal looking for food. 

During  Passover(Pesach) week, it is forbidden to eat bread. I'm a great lover of bread as are many other people. And yet, unlike some other people, I wouldn't dream of making "bread provisions" for this short period of time. 

popular felafel booth- before Pesach

the same booth - closed for Pesach

Sometimes. it's hard to believe what people would do, to avoid the one day fasting and the eight day of abstinence from bread eating!
(For the oriental jews, with roots in North Africa and the Middle East,  life is much easier during Passover, as they're allowed by their rabbis to eat grains , seeds, legumes such as rice, corn, beans. I belong to the Ashkenazi jews with roots in Europe and their Passover has strict rules that don't allow the above). 

Anyway, I say : once a year -  fasting for one day and not eating bread for a week - see it as a chance you're given to test yourself, free yourself of bad habits, improve yourself. Take it, and make the best of it! Being able to control the smaller addictions will help you in your struggle with the heavier ones (if and when they come) like smoking, drugs, gambling.

at the supermarket (before Pesach) : pita bread, bread, cakes, cookies

 Pesach -  leavened food shelf covered with white plastic sheets

It's interesting to note that  white is the color of preferrence during both holidays:  white clothes on Yom Kippur,  white garment for the jew leading the Seder meal on Pesach,  and...at supermarkets, white cover sheets for 'chametz' (leavened food),  just before Pesach.

The Baker from Baghdad

'The Baker from Bagdhad'  is the name of a bakery chain  which includes some seven stores spread around Israel. The chain, founded in 2004 by the third generation to a family of bakers originally from Baghdad (Iraq),  is quite successful. People love these places which combine the old, traditional breads and pastries, with the more modern ones. 

products displayed on racks and counter

Last week, I entered one of the bakeries of the chain to get myself a cup of coffee and a cookie. It was almost noon. Inside, a light traffic of customers buying bread, rolls, pretzels, cakes, cookies.  Salads, sandwiches,and light drinks were also available.

There were only two small chairs and tables, outside the entrance, where one could sit and have a coffee. Not very comfortable arrangement, to say the least, but I left home without any breakfast and I had to have something.

breads on rack

tortes, for festive events, in the fridge, cookies on the table

cookies on racks

ready-made  cake roulades

The specialty of this chain is the 'sambusak' - an iraqi and middle-eastern  turnover pastry stuffed with various fillings (cheese and potatoes, among the favorites).
Doughnuts are also given much honor here, with a variety of fillings (chocolate, strawberries, vanilla, halva). 

Staring at the people buying all those goodies,  I concluded to myself that it was hard for anyone to resist entering the place. Besides the terrific smells of fresh, out-of-the oven stuff, and decent prices, I noticed a great variety of both:  baking supplies used (white flour, whole flour, with or without glutten, various filling ingredients) and finished products (sweet, salty, sugarless/ breads, cookies - and at the other end  - sophisticated and "decadent" desserts).

We're constantly told that sugar and salt are killers, flour is an enemy, jelly is yikes - but most people love these elements and will probably continue to love them  (presumably with the help of a little pill for diabetes, cholesterol, triglycerides and the like. As we all know, Nutrition and Health, go hand in hand, ).