Bringing people together through bread-making
There is something about the smell of freshly baked bread that brings a comforting sense of warmth and tradition.
That’s exactly why a Christchurch community project chose to bring people of diverse backgrounds together, to learn about different bread cultures of the world – and to simply share the enjoyment of mouthwatering breads straight out of the oven. Together Through Bread is a collaborative project between community radio station Plains FM, nonprofit group Canterbury Workers’ Educational Association, and community organisation A Communal Loaf.
It has organised six free workshops run by members of various ethnic communities since lockdown last year.
‘‘Bread is such a universal food stuff – it’s spread around the world in different places, it develops its own traditions around it,’’ A Communal Loaf organiser Simon Gray said.
The workshops shared the bread cultures of Somalia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and Montreal in Canada.
‘‘It only just scraped the surface.’’
The workshops – held at the Phillipstown Community Hub where there was an outdoor bread and pizza oven – were fully booked out, with a maximum of 20 people at each.
Gray said it made a big difference to be able to make the bread in a wood fire oven as it tasted different – and better.
‘‘The bread is the thing that brings people together.’’
Plains FM created podcasts on the series of workshops, while Workers’ Educational Association provided opportunities for some tutors to do further work with them, doing various classes.
It brought together a diverse group of people of different cultural backgrounds, ages and genders. Gray said it was also a way for emigrants to share their skills and have an opportunity to develop work.
‘‘There’s a whole range of stories around bread; in some cultures it’s a way of welcoming new people, so you learn a bit about the different ways.’’
Feedback from participants was positive. ‘‘They enjoyed the opportunity to . . . learn about the bread-making, and . . . the culture behind it.’’
The group planned to host a final event at the end of May. It hoped to host further workshops at different venues and open a community-supported bakery at the Phillipstown Community Hub.