Eiko Funada

Our recycling centre has a book exchange. I saw a book about bread and was very pleased. Then I noticed that it was about baking bread in a small rural Alpine area in Southern Austria. That could be very interesting! Written by a Japanese ethnologist!!??

Already the introduction by a Viennese ethnologist pointed out that Funada had two advantages in her studies that he would not have had: as a woman she had better access to women's stories. As an outsider she saw aspects of the culture that he would take for granted. So I decided to take a chance and read the book.

I learned so much! As a baker myself, reading about the techniques was very interesting. But Funada goes deeper into the differences between various types of bread in Europe than I ever had, and her explanations about how and why they developed make a lot of sense. I loved reading about the religious aspects of bread baking, and will probably change some of my habits as a result. Because she studied bread baking in this one area for several decades, and was able to question older women on her first visits, she is also able to discuss the development of bread, and life in general in Lesachtal going back to before WWI. Fascinating.

And sure enough. Because she is an outsider she sees aspects of the whole that I never would have thought to ask about.

The book includes several recipes. The most interesting aspect to me is the large size of the batches. I've never tried to bake anywhere near that amount of bread at once. But although the normal bread is described as baked by various women, there is no recipe for plain bread. It is the special holiday breads that have recipes.… (altro)