“Everything you see, I owe to Spaghetti!”
Picture this: you’re hungry, You’ve been busy all day and haven’t had the chance to eat. as you finally step foot into your house after all your stress, there’s a hot, freshly made bowl of spaghetti waiting for you. When one is hungry like that and presented with food, there is a brief moment of such profound, primal relief. Satisfaction, nutrition and pleasure! All because of a delicious bowl of pasta presented at just the right time.
This feeling has been around for as long as humans have, humans cannot exist without eating, without feeling hunger and the subsequent satisfaction of having a good meal. This makes the people who have long-gone past feel much closer and more relatable to us than the black and white poker face portraits of the 1800s. No matter how much society fluctuates, no matter how many periods of war and distress take place there is a tasty constant: food. One of the oldest foods in the world, is one we still love and enjoy today, bread. In fact, crumbs from flatbread were found in Jordan dating back 14,600 years. There were also tools for possibly grinding flour and seeds that were found in Australia that date back to 30,000 years ago, but the evidence is inconclusive as to whether they were used to make bread or not. Still, that's a long time to be eating bread.
In 1930, a scored loaf of almost perfectly preserved sourdough bread was discovered in Campania, Italy. Archeologists discovered that it was baked on the exact day that Mount Vesuvius erupted, killing thousands. This loaf was carbonised, this is what kept it so well preserved. The loaf was scored, indicating a string that was tied around it before baking, this practice was to make it easier to carry around but also, easier to share. On the 24th of August 79 AD, someone baked a loaf of bread with the intention to share it. THeres no better way of saying this but Food connects us. There is a recognition of shared humanity that comes from sharing food. The best way to understand and appreciate another persons’s culture is to eat or cook their food. Recipes are walking, travelling stories that have survived years and years of human suffering, innovation, decay, disaster and joy. When you eat a bunny chow, there is a story of Indian sugar-cane workers needing a convenient way to carry their lunches to work, an emptied out bread loaf did just the trick. There is then the influence this meal had on the kota, a street sandwich with a similar concept, bread as the container, and fillings like slap chips, eggs, russian sausages, bean curry etc. Kotas and bunny chow are still eaten all over South Africa and with it, their histories survive.
During lockdown, there was a huge uptick in baking and cooking content on the internet. sourdough starters were made, cakes were baked, traditional food from all across the world was shared and carefully recreated. this makes me wonder, in such an uncertain, terrifying time, maybe we’ve been using food as a comfort. If you mix flour, yeast, salt and water, let it rise and then bake it for 20 minutes, you’re guaranteed a loaf of bread. Warm and delicious and perfect. The world outside may be crumbling but bread is something you control. Food and cooking, to me, are pure love made tangible, made tasty. Eating the food someone has made for you should be revered! Careful time, effort and skill concentrated for your satisfaction, that’s love! The fact that food is more than just our need to survive and that each dish has a long and interesting history only makes food more appealing. so Next time someone prepares you a meal think about that, next time you get a burger from McDonald’s, think about that! The whole world cares, a little, if you pay enough attention.
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