Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Sarah Interprets the Scriptures....

Ok. It's passover. Let me share my thoughts and feelings on bread.
1. If we were not intended to eat carbs, there would be no passover. Passover would have been a really convienient way to segue the chosen people onto the chosen diet. But such is not the case. The Atkins-friendly ham and cheese omelet replacing the bagel for breakfast? I don't think so... And isn't the whole point at one level to make us appreciate how great it is that we're not in bondage or trudging through the desert waiting for a miracle. Life is so good, we eat levened bread... why give that up?
2. What is Kosher for Passover? Now, obviously I don't keep Kosher For the Rest of the Year, but under these more relaxed guidelines, I advocate for a more contemporary approach to the bread of affliction. Ok, so in Moses' time Matzoh came about because in their haste to flee oppression, the dough had no time to rise, it was baked by the sun... and so on. Just as the Jews didn't have lots of leisure time to make artesanal breads, hard-working poor folks worldwide have been making do with what they have. These are transcendant themes of poverty and in our new global culture I think alternate and international breads of affliction should be taken into account.
New acceptable substitutions for Matzoh and yes, I have been ordained on the internet:
  • Pita
  • Tortilla
  • Nan
  • Injera (Eithiopian flat bread, used to eat tasty morsels with your hands. Hello, affliction.)
  • Fry bread. (No one is more oppressed than the Native Americans, come on.)
  • Lefse (Norweigians are afflicted with stupidness. That's right, Kristina.)

While writing this, I came across this: http://www.foodsubs.com/Flatbread.html

1 comment:

kristina said...

When you prepare lefse, don't put the spoon directly into the bag of brown sugar. Norwegians would be much more successful (you know, maybe they would have learned about fry bread even more than 500 years before the spanierds) if they understood common decency -- like pouring sugar into a bowl and then scooping it from there. Right, moira?