Cross-Culture Bread Development

[floppy_seal99]

Despite my religious status as a Gentile,

I've been wondering- was it possible for other cultures besides the ancient Israelites to develop Matzoh, or an extremely close equivalent?

I am thinking that steppe cultures and/or Sahara based cultures would be the best chance. Perhaps anywhere in Eurasia/Americas with a predominately dry climate. Is it even plausible for Australia/Polynesia to develop that?

 

[Driftless]

Despite my religious status as a Gentile,

I've been wondering- was it possible for other cultures besides the ancient Israelites to develop Matzoh, or an extremely close equivalent?

I am thinking that steppe cultures and/or Sahara based cultures would be the best chance. Perhaps anywhere in Eurasia/Americas with a predominately dry climate. Is it even plausible for Australia/Polynesia to develop that?

A freind of mine (who is Jewish) once made the comment about many US immigrant groups: each group seems to have some form of flatbread and some "treat" from the homeland that all others consider repellant.... For example:
* Jewish: Matzoh & Gefiltefish
* Norwegian: Lefse & Lutefisk
* Mexico: Tortillas & Menudo

You can name many variants on that idea.


But to your original point, Matzoh (in the religious sense) came from the idea that the ancient Israelites couldn't wait for the rising of the bread, before leaving Egypt during the Exodus.

As noted above, there are other food cultures that have un-leavened or wild yeast/sourdough type breads. I've eaten a wonderful Ethiopan bread - Injera - with a pancaky type appearance

 

[mosodake]

As Driftless said, there's a lot of similar flatbreads, leavened and unleavened. Lavash, naan, bolani, paratha, roti, pita, Chinese green onion pancakes, even phyllo and spring roll wrappers are probably descended from the same tradition. Shaping loaves in the European style seems to be far less common.

 

[Workable Goblin]

* Mexico: Tortillas & Menudo

Menudo doesn't sound all that repellant to me. I mean, sure, it's tripe, but there's lots of people out there that eat tripe. It's basically just a meat stew with Mexican seasonings...what is supposed to be repellant about that?

 

[Driftless]

Menudo doesn't sound all that repellant to me. I mean, sure, it's tripe, but there's lots of people out there that eat tripe. It's basically just a meat stew with Mexican seasonings...what is supposed to be repellant about that?

Like all foods, it's just what your background brings to the table... If your background is vegetarian or vegan, any meat is going to sound nasty. If you've ever seen chef Andrew Zimmeren's 'Bizarre Foods" series', he will eat most anything short of roadkill, but he balks at Spam...

My cultural and food heritage is Norwegian, so Lutefisk is my Americanized-Norwegian legacy. My brother and dad loved the stuff - I think reconstituted gelatinized boiled fish only fit to be catfish bait.....


Essentially, my freind's initial point was that most US Immigrant groups retained some food from home that became a treasured connection to the homeland, in part as few others would enjoy it in the same way as those immigrants.

 

[Workable Goblin]

Like all foods, it's just what your background brings to the table... If your background is vegetarian or vegan, any meat is going to sound nasty. If you've ever seen chef Andrew Zimmeren's 'Bizarre Foods" series', he will eat most anything short of roadkill, but he balks at Spam...

But most people in the United States do like eating meat, at least judging by per-capita meat-eating statistics. I know that offal is not really common or very well thought of in the United States, but it's not repellant in the way that, say, insects are usually considered to be. The problem with lutefisk, I've always heard, is more the smell generated by making it than the food item itself.

 

[Driftless]

But most people in the United States do like eating meat, at least judging by per-capita meat-eating statistics. I know that offal is not really common or very well thought of in the United States, but it's not repellant in the way that, say, insects are usually considered to be. The problem with lutefisk, I've always heard, is more the smell generated by making it than the food item itself.

I think - nowdays - US meat consumption and preference heavily trends to muscle tissue, and as time goes by, with drives to reduce the fat content. The current popularity of organ meats and other parts (offal, skin, etc) tends to drop off pretty fast, particularly with younger folks. Chicharrons are maybe the exception there. In Menudo's case, there is no inherent problem with it - at all - as long as it's cleaned and prepared safely - as is true for any food. It comes down to cultural preferences.

For me, it's the texture of Lutefisk that I don't care for. I'll eat it at a church festival, it's just not something I'll seek out.

 

[Driftless]

Circling back to the OP....

With flat breads there are both leavened and un-leavened breads. For nomadic people who move frequently, I would think un-leavened breads should be considerably easier to work with. Those folks who maintain a permanent home or a base camp for extended periods can work with either leavened or un-leavened breads. Yeast breads don't tolerate much of any movement during the rise. Even the flat Injera bread I listed above (or other wild yeast/sourdough breads) requires several days of fermenting the dough as part of the prep.