Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-08-17
BREAD OF THE NATIONS.
How the STAR of Life Is Made Among
Various Peoples.

How the star of Life Is Made Among
Various Peoples.
It is a curious and interesting study
to compare the various materials which
serve the different nations of the world
as the basis of their bread. In this
country, where good bread, made from
spring and fall wheat -four, is within
reach of all, rarely thought is given
to the fact that, after all, the inhabit-
ants of only small portion of the
earth's surface enjoy such food. In the
remoter part of Sweden the poor make
and bake their rye bread twice year
and store the loaves away, SO that even
tually they are IS hard as bricks.
Farther north still bread is made
from barley and oats. In Lapland oats,
with the inner bark of the pine, are used.
The two together, we'll ground and
mixed, are made into large, fiat cakes,
cooked in a pan over a fire. In dreary
Kamchatka pine or birch bark by
itself, we'll macerated, pounded and
baked, frequently constitutes the whole
Of the native bread food. The Icelander
scrapes the Iceland moss off the rocks
and grinds it into flour, which serves
both for bread and for buildings.
In some parts of Siberia, China and
other eastern countries fairly palata-
BILE bread is made from buckwheat. In
parts of Italy chestnuts are cooked,
ground into meal and used for making
bread. Durra a variety of the millet, is
much used in the countries of India,
Egypt, Arabia and Asia Minor for max
ing bread. Rice bread is the staple food
of the Chinese, Japanese and large
portion of the Inhabitants of India.
In Persia the bread is made from rice,
-four and milk; it is called "lawash.
The Persian oven is built in the ground,
about the size of barrel. The sides are
smooth mason work. The fire is built at
the bottom and kept burning until the
walls or sides of the oven are thorough
~ heated. Enough dough to form
sheet about one foot wide and about
two feet long is thrown ON the bench
and rolled until about as thin as sole
leather, then it is taken up and tossed
and rolled from one arm to the other
and flung ON the board and slapped ON
the side of the oven. 1t takes only few
moments to bake and when baked it is
spread out to COOL This bread is cheap
Il cent Sheet; it is sweet and nour-
ishing.
A specimen of the "hunger bread"
from Armenia is made of clover seed,
fax or linseed meal, mixed with edible
grass. In the Molucca islands, the
starchy pith Of the sage palm furnishes
a white, floury meal. This is made up
into fat, oblong loaves, which are baked
in curious little ovens, each being di-
vided into oblong cells to receive the
loaves.
Bread is also made Of roots in some
parts of Africa and South America It
is made from manioc tubers. These
foots are deadly poison if eaten in the
raw state, but make a good food If
properly prepared. To prepare 1t for
bread the roots are soaked for several
days in water, thus washing out the
poison. The fibers are picked out, dried
and ground into -four. This is mixed
with milk, If obtainable; IL not. water
is used. The dough is formed into lit
tie round loaves and baked in hot ashes
or dried in the sun,-Sanitary Record.