Author: Ye Kefei
Many of the common things that are commonplace today have their own astonishing history, and bread is just that.
The real appearance of bread was in ancient Egypt 6,000 years ago. Full-time bakers appeared in Roman times, and bread culture was also formed. For Europeans, bread is not only an everyday staple, but also a symbol of history. The German writer H.E. Jacob elaborated on the history of bread in his book The Great Bread: 6,000 Years of Sacred and Everyday History.
Jacob's writing began with Wheat. His uncle, a grain merchant, also introduced him to wheat for the first time when he was four or five years old, "it didn't feel pleasant, it scared me." The uncle told young Jacob that he would love it, especially at the dinner table. In the evening, little Jacob saw "Papa bending over to cut bread." The crust of the bread has a brown sheen, like Daddy's sideburns; The inside is very white, like Dad's calm face. Under the light, the bread looks even more gentle and peaceful. Looking at the white bread and Daddy's hands, a sense of security was born, and this calm and beautiful picture seemed to be hypnotic and obsessive."
This is the meaning of bread's existence, warm and safe. Of course, the history of bread does not stop there. In Jacob's writing, bread was the currency of the ancient Egyptians, the scepter of the Romans, and the flesh and blood of the gods. The rise and fall of politics, religion, folklore, war, and civilization was, in Jacob's eyes, a game of bread. "The Great Bread" is like this, using bread as the line, connecting the great history of mankind, laying out ancient Egyptian legends, Greek mythology, literary poetry, war history, agricultural history and many other historical materials.
The ancient Egyptians, as the first to eat bread, were superior in those days. In contrast, the food of Europeans at the same time was pitifully scarce. In Egypt at the time, bread was even a unit of measure and an alternative currency. For hundreds of years, Egyptians paid all kinds of wages, even official salaries, in the form of bread. Interestingly, if bread is not received, even if there is meat and alcohol, the workers will strike.
Egyptian bread was not only filling, but also emphasized a sense of art. Bread frescoes of various shapes can still be seen in the burial chamber today. This was inherited by the ancient Romans, and it was very popular. It is said that the bread of the ancient Romans was directly "linked" to guests, for example, when an artist came to visit, he would prepare piano-shaped bread, and a wedding banquet would use ring-shaped bread... It is also because of the view of bread as a culture that bakers in ancient Rome had a very high social status. The Bakers' Guild was one of the most important guilds, and Paquius Proculus, the second mayor of Pompeii, was a member of the Bakers' Guild.
Of course, this social status was "unsustainable", and the situation was much worse for bakers in the Middle Ages. In fact, because of the importance of bread, medieval bakers were still important figures in the community and could become councillors. But bakers are not good, and in addition to having to go through long apprenticeships and travels, they also have to take the risk of getting sick. Working 14-18 hours is commonplace (even in 1894, a British baker died of a heart attack after working 21 hours straight). Tired and poor, eating little, eating irregularly, bakers who lived in the bakery would inhale dust while sleeping, and suffer from asthma and bronchitis. In France, bakers are called moaners.
Then there was eczema and the "baker's knee", which were terrible occupational diseases, but even so, medieval bakers were not treated with the respect they deserved. "The citizens of the Middle Ages also believed that the weight of every baker was fake, and that the cost of baking bread was asking for a sky-high price" - the reason for this illusion was that bread was a daily necessity, and the people at that time could not understand the basic economic principle of price changes, and did not know that food prices were not fixed.
Therefore, the "war" between bakers and the people has never stopped, of course, the existence of some unscrupulous bakers. The book reads: "If the bread is seriously insufficient, people will hang it around the baker's neck and let him parade through the streets." Bakers may also lose their privileges as chefs. However, they came up with a way to 'bribe the authorities to allow them to bake bread that is one-third to one-quarter lighter than normal'. So in the Middle Ages, violations of the Bread and Beer Ordinance were the most common offences. The ignorance of the people did not stop there: "During the famines, people flooded bakeries, and many bakers were killed, because millers and bakers were considered the root cause of hunger in the Middle Ages (even during the French Revolution). ”
Contempt for bread can even affect politics, as exemplified by Napoleon. Although Napoleon fought the battlefield, he has always been known for "not understanding economics". He was a big admirer of industry and believed that the future of war would depend entirely on industry. Industry influenced war, this is, of course, common sense, but agriculture is no less important, which Napoleon ignored. Moreover, Napoleon's France was not an agricultural powerhouse in the first place, on the contrary, even agricultural backward countries such as Germany and Italy exported grain to France.
Faced with the subsequent shortage of food, Napoleon wrote to his subordinates, but no one could fulfill his wishes, the peasants were conscripted, the harvest of the previous season was very poor, and the Eastern European countries closed their doors to France. France's granaries were empty, and famine knocked on France's door as Napoleon's army moved from Poland to Russia.
In the end, "the reason for the collapse of the French army was not so much the cold as the lack of bread". When the French army withdrew from Russia, they first chose to kill horses because they did not have oats as horse food, eat horse meat and drink horse blood to live. After that, they could only walk on foot in the ice and snow, suffering from the cold and the double attack of the enemy army.
Corporal Burgogne of the French army described in his memoirs the great evacuation as a bread-induced disaster. On the 50th day of the food cut, he felt like he was going crazy. Bugogne and his comrades found whiskey somewhere, but his throat was frozen and he couldn't drink it. A few days later, they found bread in a hut, threw their rifles in the snow, and pounced on it like wild beasts. Several comrades choked to death because the bread cubes they had bitten were too large. And Burgogne was lucky, because his lips were frostbitten and he could hardly open his mouth ... When the French soldiers arrived in Poland, they smelled the aroma of freshly baked, hot bread and went crazy. They use their swords to scrape flour through the cracks in the floor of the room, or something they mistake for flour. They bought a loaf of bread for 5 francs, which stunned the locals; And to kill each other for a bite of food. For three baked potatoes that are not yet the size of walnuts, a group of French soldiers fought fiercely..."
In Poland, the French army "greedily ate dry bread." Some soldiers did not listen to advice, kept eating, and finally survived. Even after the Battle of Leipzig, it was believed that these soldiers were cursed by God and would always be starving."
It was in this state of madness that the empire that did not focus on agriculture but burned the flames of war throughout Europe came to an end. As the book says, "Whoever owns bread wins." "This is not an isolated case, allowing people to own bread has always been part of the process of civilization and is still important.
On the European continent, whether in Germany or Russia, France or Spain, bread is a presence that transcends the necessities of life. It is not only a source of vitality in the morning and a warm solace for lunch and dinner, nor is it the most inconspicuous but "solid" one in the exquisite picnic plating, but also the cultural conversion that accompanies everyone growing up. Obviously, this is another version of "food for the people". (Ye Kefei)
Source: Wen Wei Po