Some years ago two friends from Pavia gave us a small quantity of ‘pasta madre’, the natural yeast that you have to refresh every week and use to prepare bread, pizza and more.
Preparing our bread ourselves was a refreshing experience that we brought with us in different countries.
Making bread is a fundamental life experience that I would recommend to anybody.
And the nice thing with ‘pasta madre’ is that you cannot buy it but one will always find someone ready to pass it.
Making things with one own hands is important for a balanced phisical and mental growth. It is a pity that after the adolescence there are few occasions for it.
There are not many things I am able to do, not good with wood or repairing house appliances, never tried pottery and limited knowledge in gardening.
Still, in the last ten years I have probably done more than in the previous twenty.
Tag: hands
Eating by hands
In my neighbourhood, the majority of people still eat by hands.
I tried once near Reo to have rice sauce with my fingers, and the experience was not unpleasant.
Of course, the psychological burden of childhood’s first commandment: do not eat by your hands converted this incident in a cultural shock.
Eating by hands could look as an uneducated behaviour, but is not. You have to wash carefully your hands before and after the meal and there are some more rules of etiquette, especially if you are sharing the bowl with others (that is the natural African complement to this way of eating).
If you enjoyed the chopsticks Chinese way, now try your fingers, you’ll not regret.
March 16
MC7858attitude 