Our Daily Bread

We all love bread. If you are the one preparing and baking your own bread, you are sure it is safe to eat. But what if you buy it from outside, from the store, from a friend or from a stranger?

I buy bread only when they are sold in the licensed supermarkets/stores, and properly packed. I check the source which is printed on the label. In the United Arab Emirates particularly in Dubai, there are regular inspections of bakeries and other foods and beverages workplaces, so you know that they all must comply with the local regulations to protect the consumers.

The bacteria in eggs, meats and casseroles can be killed if the oven hits 165°F, better and more prudent at 300 - 350°F. According to OurEverydayLife.com, "Unfortunately, some bacteria extend their lives by producing spores, dormant forms of the bacteria that survive harsh conditions. C. botulinum bacteria, for example, is just one of many bacterial spores that need heating at 250°F for several minutes for the spores to die."

A few years back there was this restaurant that expanded its business and included a bakery in its second floor. I ate a bread which tasted like there was an insecticide so I did not continue eating and just told the waitress about it. After some time I saw it closed for a reason I did not know.

I was offered some pieces of bread in a plastic bag but not properly sealed. When I was to taste a piece after some hours I saw a tiny fly inside so I just threw all. The products which I tasted before were yummy but something was wrong.

Lifted from OurEveryDayLife.com's article -- "The longer your dough sits outside the refrigerator, the more quickly bacteria will grow, doubling in numbers in as little as 10 minutes."

This reminded me of my mother when she requested her young girl to buy buchis from vendors in our place, "Buy only from xxx. Her buchis are covered with mosquito net before packing and selling it in the market." Oh, well, she knew that bacteria in the air infect/reinfect some foods.

In the Philippines, I used to organize technology and livelihood seminars in collaboration with the leading technology and livelihood center. One of my best sellers was basic and advanced baking and bakeshop operation. Some of the graduates of the short courses I organized started their own bakeshop businesses. So more or less, I have the ideas of how this business works.

Bread is very important in our daily lives. It keeps our stomach full. Even in the prayer taught to us, the request for daily bread is there -- "Give us today our daily bread". 

I see God in every bread that I eat because I experienced how it was to be hungry. Mahatma Gandhi said --

There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

When the bread is on our table, my mother would call us while it was hot and fresh. She used to remind us not to keep it waiting because we prayed for it every single day. That was one of sensing and appreciating the blessings from God, and realizing that we could not love ourselves and others, and could not play our roles with an empty stomach.

Having peace of mind that it is safe to eat the bread we have on hand, matters.

My former client had a very strong reminder when he was to hire a cook from my manpower company of which I was the general manager back then -- "We do not like to be poisoned so please do all strict screenings when you send your candidates' profiles."

We must be careful with what we should put into our mouth because once it is inside our body, we cannot take it out even if we vomit. If there is something wrong in the bread, we feel sick, if not die, due to food poisoning.

Whatever food and beverage we take is a matter of informed choice. Always remember that no matter how assertive other people are in persuading you to eat and/or drink what they offer, you are in control so have the wisdom to discern. It is your body, not theirs; your life, not theirs.

These days we are lucky to have the bread-making machines, tools, and ingredients within reach, and they can be ordered online. If you have the time, space and resources to buy what you need to make pieces of bread, and you have the passion for baking, then do it, as your own hands will never harm you. (You will have fun, too as it is a creative thing to do.) Otherwise, buy bread only from trusted sources.

And if by God's grace you have a chance to share your pieces of bread which are safe to eat with others, do so from your grateful heart. Nikolai Berdyaev has these touching sentences --

Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.

---

Photo credits:  Pixabay