Issue 02 - Bread
A Historical and Cultural Review
When we eat food, we don't think much about the ingredients. Since we started living in the Netherlands, we eat bread as our staple food. Have you ever thought about bread? Are you a bread lover ? Have you ever wonder its origins, and why the shape of bread varies from one country to another?
From it’s history to influence on our personal experience of food culture, let's talk about 🥖bread🍞 today!
💫[Z]💫 History of Bread
Bread is a common food in the Netherlands and many other European countries, typically consumed as a staple for meals. To be completely honest, I don't enjoy eating bread for meals. Nonetheless, I occasionally find myself curious about its widespread adoption and how it has become a major consuming food even in Asian countries. Even in Korea, there is a debate going on about whether you should eat bread or rice for breakfast.
Perhaps my perspective is influenced by my cultural background, hailing from a country where rice holds the position of a staple food. Interestingly, the term for bread, "pan," is shared in both Korean and Japanese languages. This nomenclature was influenced by the era of Japanese colonialism.
The introduction of bread in Japan dates back to around 1540, spurred by diplomatic relations with Portugal and Europe. Japan began to call bread "pão [パン]" the Portuguese term for it. In the context of Korea, the earliest written record of bread, dating back to 1720, describes it as a "Western rice cake." In the early 1900s, bread was not widely popularized in Korea due to the perspective that it was a high-class European food.
However, during the Japanese colonial period, wheat gained prominence as a substitute for rice, leading to the emergence of foods like noodles and bread made from flour in South Korea. In the 1920s, the Japanese established Western(European)-style bakeries in Korea, and Japanese using their technology and human resources began selling bread. That widespread consumption of bread in Korea. Even after the colonial period, the distribution of bread in Korea continued to grow, significantly influenced by the presence of the US military during the Korean War. Perhaps, the bread currently sold in Korea can be a unique mixture of diverse countries’ history and cultures.
While "bread" may often be consumed without much contemplation, delving into its historical background shows a multitude of fascinating stories. In addition to bread, the history of food may have backgrounds from this colonial perspective. Wouldn’t it be fun if people consumed bread with a little more history and background knowledge? Still, from a non bread-lover perspective, I eat bread occasionally in the Netherlands. For me it is nothing more than a survival food. (I’m Sorry! bread lovers <3)
🔮[C]🔮 Bread
I only knew of two worlds of bread. I grew up eating sliced bread.
1. American: Wonder bread, white soft sponges pbj bread. At some point we leveled up for a more fancy nutritious bread "whole grain, some seeds and things" for hefty sandwiches, my dad loved recreating the Subway and Quiznos pastrami with hefty servings of store bought sliced ham. The bread slices always just solid enough to hold the meats together. This bread we got from the supermarket shelf. The American bakery was in the supermarket. A baguette from the same store noticeably has shrunk since my childhood days.
2. Asian bread: sheng kee, sogo bakery, Paris baguette, and 85⁰C. "Bread" took classic european form (baguettes, filled breads, galettes) but flavors and fillings were matcha, taro, red bean, hot dog and corn, green onion and pork floss, egg custard cream. Milk breads soft and slightly sweet, even with savory ones. From Z’s perspective, this is all marketed as european bread in Asia. But growing up in the States, these bakeries were a delightful token to introduce familiar flavors to my friends from other cultures.
These are the two worlds of bread I've known. I bought bread for ham sandwiches or a sweet savory treat.
Now I've entered the Netherlands. Sandwich breads are thick crusty rolls. Pastry bread is flakey and crisp. Most importantly, bread is fresh. Supermarket, bakery, train station, bread is everywhere. Bread is also quite affordable. A fresh large loaf you can slice yourself may still be warm when it hits the shelf, every morning. Supermarket or bakery. Less than €3.
As a sandwich master, I think my dad would be heartbroken to see even with so many options for bread, the most common sandwich form you see is the humble 2 slices with exactly one slice of cheese and one slice of ham layered in between. It’s an honest meal that does the job. My classmates and I even brought a tosti machine to campus to heat up our sandwiches, the difference a little heat brings to a ham and cheese sandwich is so luxurious. And so my question to why every household has a tosti machine and not a rice cooker is answered. The simple slices outside form a golden crust, the cheese melts just right. It just makes sense.
Do we even get into cheese and bread. Bread pairings. Cheese might need to be a whole nother issue. In the states, they label kaas as "Gouda." You can find it in the specialty cheese fridge where every slice costs more than a leg. My Dutch friends kindly informed me it's not called "Gouda cheese" here in the Netherlands, it's just kaas (cheese)." Gouda is just the city known most famously for selling cheese, no cheese is made there. More about my cheese journey in the future, I’m certainly learning a lot about this world.
All while learning of what Dutch bread is, I’m also discovering whole new cultures in my neighborhood. My go to every week is now a Moroccan bakery. I get a baguette and what the baker answered is called the “house bread” when I asked, and they’re both crusted in semolina. These are my first experiences with this kind of bread but I can only describe it as the fluffiest big fat pancake sized english muffin ever. Do let me know how others enjoy this bread. Currently I’m mashing cultures by throwing this in my tosti machine with all kinds of cheese and spreads.
Speaking of spreads, I’m writing this piece while enjoying some kaya jam brought from Malaysia. [inner thoughts; How wildly awesome it is that I’m in the Netherlands, made friends who also share a chinese malaysian culture, who presented me this bit of nostalgia from their most recent trip back, all being enjoyed between a thick piece of Morrocan bread, mashed into my tosti machine, i’m vthankful <3]
🎬Z’s Movie Review🎬 [ひみつのなっちゃん]
For a chill, sunny weekend breakfast, have you ever considered brunch and movies? There’s a movie I would like to introduce. I believe it goes well with lazy-day brunch !
Few weeks ago, I went to a Camera Japan festival in Rotterdam with C. We didn’t have any information about the festival so I looked through the website and movie lists they have. Among the many choices, randomly one particular queer movie captured my attention. After that we decided to watch the film titled ‘Natchan’s Little Secret’.
This cinematic experience revolves around the narrative of a family of drag queens who come together to commemorate Natchan's funeral. One night, Virgin received a phone call from Marilyn. The call was that Natchan, a member of his drag family passed away. On that night, Virgin and Marilyn rush to the hospital to confirm Natchan's demise. Suddenly, Natchan's drag queen family came up with all the drag queen related items still in his house.
Virgin and Marilyn were his drag queen family, however they did not know Natchan’s address. However, they came up with the idea that ‘Zubuko’ might know Natchan’s address. And they try to search Natchan’s address. While Natchan’s drag queen family organized his belongings, they noticed uneasiness as his real family and people around him may or may not know his one secret. That secret is that Natchan used to be a drag queen. One problem, Natchan may not come out of the closet to people around him.
After I watched this film, I constantly thought of what if something similar happened to me? What if Natchan is my close friend, am I able to take a whole situation so calm and natural like Virgin? This film is humorous but also contains the humanity of storytelling. Moreover, the film offers a deep exploration of the solidarity within the queer community and challenges their broader Japanese society's perception of queerness. Even in the midst of the heavy topic and situation of death, they try not to lose sight of each other and show solidarity, encouraging us to reflect ourselves.
What I liked the most about Natchan's little secret, a queer film that addresses the theme of 'death' while retaining a sense of humor in a Japanese way. The title captures the content of the movie well. (You will understand the meaning of the title after the movie) I recommend watching it if you get the chance.
Did you enjoy our little knowledge transfer and cultural review? :)
Until our next topic,
See you around, C and Z
Good..I love the way you write.
Cool! I want more! Please write about Asian restaurants in NL!