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Bread
& Oil
Majorcan Culture's Last Stand
by
Tomas Graves (University of Wisconsin Press)
When
you finish reading Bread & Oil, you just
may find yourself referring to the book as Pa Amb
Oli, the translation that is what the locals in Majorca
call the staple of peasant bread drenched in oil and
sprinkled with a dash of salt or sugar. That's because
wonderful writer Tomas Graves makes the sights, insights,
sounds, scents and lively folk of the Spanish island
jump to life so brilliantly in this creative triumph.
Whether
he's writing about class structure or crassness, love
or war, Graves, in his own translation of the original
Catalan version, manages to tie it all in to bread
and oil. Here, he discusses how renditions of the
dish always make him feel like he's home:
"Greece,
late autumn 1971. Three hippies—myself and two
friends who (supposedly) studied at the CIDE in Son
Rapinya—having made and sold leather belts during
the summer and bought a beat-up VW bus in Paris with
the proceeds, have finally made it, after many adventures,
to the end of the road: the bottom of the Peloponnese
peninsula. Fifty miles of winding dirt roads over
the mountains, have brought us, famished to the ancient
walled city of Monemvassia, at the foot of a great
peninsular outcrop of rock which reminds us of Alaro
castle but set in the sea. No cars are allowed in
the town, so we walk over a causeway and through a
gate in the wall. Silence: it's Sunday, off-season,
everything is closed. Finally, we find a place that
will serve us some fried sardines, a loaf of khoriatico
bread cut into thick slices, with very strong olive
oil, sea salt and fresh oregano. This bread and oil
makes us feel at home."
Those
who have never made their home on the Balearics island
(it became quite popular with tourists beginning in
the 1960s), will certainly have an edge after reading
Graves' detailed musings. Part adventure log, part
history book, part travelogue, part restaurant guide
and part cookbook (about one-seventh), charm oozes
throughout.
Recipes
traverse history and reflect the indigenous (wrinkled
olives made with olive oil, lemon juice and crushed
garlic; fried sardines topped with sauteed onions
and marinated in vinegar before being served cold
with bread and oil) and popular (guacamole with tomatoes
and onions; eggplant mousse with cinnamon and curry
powder).
There's
a lot to like here, but, mainly that goes for Graves,
son of celebrated British poet Robert Graves, who
is the thread throughout and writes of a wise tip
he once got, "In the event of having had too
much to drink, eat a slice of bread soaked in virgin
olive oil and in an hour's time you'll feel right
as rain again." The same can undoubtedly be said
of reading this book.
Recipe
-PESTO
FOR BREAD
-GUACAMOLE
FOR BREAD
(Updated: 11/04/08 SB)
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