I love baking bread. I started out by brewing beer in 2013, but due to a drought in my area, I couldn't brew anymore. Since then, I started baking sourdough bread which I learned to do via books and youtube. Since the baking became more than a hobby (I started working in various bakeries and I sell my bread locally) I have explored the world of food even more. In the photo below you will see my most recent exploration: Homemade Labneh with Homemade Zaatar and Homemade Dukkah with the home-baked breads (and various oils and vinegars).

However, I have never felt comfortable with selling my breads because I want to share it with people and help them explore the journey of eating bread with different culture's cuisine. But the problem is that people do not want the bread for free, nor do they want to eat with people. In the place where I live (South Africa) the concept of what counts as "bread" is the store-bought mass-produced bread, or it is the really expensive bread you bought at the market (which might not even be that good because it is not necessarily made with love). Not my predicament: I want to give away my bread (because it is really cheap to make) but people do not want it for free, or they turn it away because "they don't eat bread" (i.e. low carb diet).

As a sourdough baker who ferments bread for two to three days (my breads are mostly 36 hours fermented), people telling me they don't eat bread because their only reference is store-bought mass-produced bread makes me sad and furious at the same time. They forfeit the opportunity to experience the vast culture of food which one enjoys with bread. They also forfeit the opportunity to "break bread" with friends and family, the real reason why one eats bread in my opinion.

This might be a serious confession, but I would love to give away my bread because it feels "wrong" to sell it. I also want to give people the opportunity to taste other cultures food. (Again, my country is not always open to strange foods. For instance, I needed to explain to my family what labneh, zaatar and dukkah is, and most of them were reluctant to taste it.)

I tried to open a bakery close to where I live in 2016 and failed due to various reasons, but one major reason was that people in South Africa do not have the correct concept of what bread is. People link bread to either poor people or rich people, but the middle person who is not poor nor rich is left in an uncomfortable position to not have the freedom to choose. Bread is either cheap (roughly $1) or very expensive (roughly $5), but there is no middle. The only middle is the imitation of "good" bread, which is basically cheap bread with a pretty exterior.

I must apologize if you have read this far. My little rant over some nice images of bread and lovely food. But bread is so part of human culture (almost every culture bakes or had baked bread) and our greed and misinformation damage the reputation of staple food. But this is not the only reason: people forfeit the opportunity to break bread together. (So, if you are ever close by, please pop in for some lovely bread!)

• bread
• food
• bakery
• healthy