Exploring the pull of a room and the wonder of what happens there
One of my housemates mentioned the other day that I seem to be spending a lot of time in the BHFH kitchen these days.
That’s because I love being there. It’s the heart of Beacon Hill Friends House. It’s a way to interact with everyone as nearly everyone passes through there for meals.
I’m between jobs right now and I really enjoy spending my time creating things to eat for my fellow housies. I’ve been working on fermenting foods and beverages for a while now and I really enjoy that. It’s intellectually fascinating to me and gives me a venue to explore my curiosity. But what really makes me happy and feel connected to others is to use that love and curiosity for delicious, healthy whole food and to share it with others.
I understand the science behind it, but it is nothing short of miraculous to make real bread. From the bubbling of a sourdough starter to the rising of the dough. Turning something that is simply flour and water, nurturing the starter, adding salt, shaping it into a loaf and having it come out completely transformed in the oven into something nutritious
is pure magic. There’s nothing like comparing the crumb of homemade and commercially produced bread to give you an idea of why one is so much more satisfying to eat than the other.
Doing it myself, by hand, brings me into contact with the awe and wonder in the universe. More than any prayer. Bread. It is tangible. It is delicious. It is nutritious. It has kept humanity alive for untold generations. I become connected to the millions of people who lived before me that did exactly this to stay alive and sustain themselves and the ones they love.
And somehow, we replaced it with Wonder Bread, which has neither wonder and is not really bread.
