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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1961-09-21, Page 7Just Where Is That Old-Tirne Bread For the first time in tiigypt's history, white bread, sliced, wrapped, untouched by baud, made its appearance in Cairo re- cently, A text printed on the paper wrapper informs the customer that this bread is made with pure, white, enriched flour con- taining an impressive• quantity of vitamins. It is produced In the biscuit and bread bakeries at Shobra, north of Cairo, one of the many new factories that have sphling lip in that area in the last two years. Here everything is done by modern machinery: we ghing and sifting the flour, mixing the Ingredients, cutting and sl•aping the dough which is then conduct- ed on belts to gigantic e'sctric ovens that remind one cif the equipment of model hospitals. The dough is baked as it r ideas, in slow motion, through the ovens and the finished p'oduct dries and cools on its way to the packing room where it is machine -packed in boxes and wrappers, At no time do the pro- ducts suffer contact With human hands. There is no immediate danger that this new, hygienic bread will supplant the traditional Egyptian loaves,,, but through the narrow breach that has been made it is possible to glimpse the dreadful day when all Egypt's bread, produced in vast depersonalized factories, will come to us white, intact shroud- ed in paper, tasteless and un- breadlike. In the meantime, however, we may still enjoy watching the ba- ker perform the breadmaking ritual, kneading the dough with his hands, shaping the loaves with the deft movements of a prestidigitator, and placing them with incredible speed on the ba- ker's peel, about 15 feet• long, to slide them into the earthen- ware oven aglow with wood em- bers that have preheated it, In the large bakeries the oven is heated by a powerful gas jet that hisses and roarsominously, like a fire -spitting drag -m. We may still linger • in the baker's shop, selecting, arguing and haggling over t}"e shape, size and color of the' loaf we want to buy, and cho't a it ft om an astonishingly wid# variety The mere fact of asking for bread in Egypt is fraught with deep significance, for here you ask for 'eysh, meaning life, in- steadof khobz, the word used in other Arab countries. The Egyptians have always had a deep respect for bread, and this is perhaps the reason for their choice of this word It is quite common for poor Egyp- tian families to spend half their income on bread; 'eysh and foo (stewed beans) being their stable diet. The method • of baking bread and the type of loaves used to- day have not changed since Pharaonic days, and it is the same bread as that which Sarah' baked when the three angels came visiting, and which Jesus broke and ate with the disciples• at the Last Supper. There are more than 200 kinds of bread in Egypt, if one counts the various types made in the villages, but in Cairo and other large cities, the most common, apart from European loaves, are tradtional loaves known as 'eysh, balladi, 'eyshshami and 'eysh balladi mefaka', names that one might expect to find in the catalogue of an art exhibi- tion or a program of music, "Life of the Native," "Life of the Sun," "Syrian Life." With the exception of the sha- mi loaf, they are made from whole wheat or corn and match. in colour the mud housesin the Egyptian villages and country- side, the old mosques and bili cl- ings of Cairo, and the waters of the Nile at flood time, They con- sist of two thin layers of dough about seven inches in diameter, with an air pocket separating the two layers. The ballad' me- fake' is leavened and allowed to remain longer in the oven, which causes the upper layer to rise like a dome and become very crisp. 'Eysh shami is lighter iii colour about 3/4" thick, with a crumb Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking itO'L lg I0 1'13, II 0 NOUN3,A3 V31' .1 R 1 A 'V N w 0 'V 3 0 3 8 a d if1 3 d o, d a 3 a a 0 N id. I1V J. 3 V 7 3 d S V w V d d V 1 3 1 n N 3' o,,N. Dom a 3 a 0 N M a 0 H S 3 0 V u O ISSUE 31 1961 similar to that of European bread, Another type, which one finds less frequently in Cairo, is wa- fer-thin, about 18" in diameter, dry and crisp, writes Irene Bee- son in the Christian Science Monitor, Balladi loaves are ideal for making the traditional Egyptian sandwiches that are not only de- licious but as satisfying as a substantial meal: The top layer of the loaf is sliced across the middle, to form a sort of elongated pouch, which is filled with mixed salad, tea- meyah (small croquettes made of cooked beans ground to a smooth paste, seasoned with choped parsley and condiments and fried In deep oil), taheenah (ground sesame seeds mixed with oil and lemon juice), kufta (minced meat cooked over char- coal) or fool (stewed beans mix- ed with butter and lemon juice), This type of bread is used also, instead of a fork, for removing kufta from the spit or by those who prefer to eat with their fin- gers, using a small piece of 'bread to wrap the food they pick out of the dish or plate. Sliced white bread, which is practically all crumb and disin- tegrates very easily, is obviously not suitable for either purpose. Apart from this and other practical considerations, such as the higher price of the new loaf, the joy of eating bread begins with the wonderful smell in the baker's shop, with handling the hot loaves and fighting on the way home to resist the tempta- tion to bite into the crisp brown crust. It is comforting to see hun- dreds of loaves piled up on a counter or rack, all different, in shape and varying in colour, so that one knows that they were made with feeling and care, It is fascinating to watch the delivery boys on their bicycles weave through the erratic Cairo traffic, balancing on their heads large trays made of thin strips of palm wood, stacked high with ballad! and shams' loaves, sym- bola, of life and vigor. Immaculate, white bread, crammed full' of vitamins and dressed in protective paper is all very well, 'but it looks effete and listless beside the sturdy balladi loaves that are the col- our of the soil and the shape of the sun that causes the grain to ripen. Porpoises, Sharks And Dolphins Those who have had the good fortune to come into contact with whales or porpoises usually find themselves In 'a state of breathless astonishment, T h e things, that are likely 'to startle the observer are the enormous dimensions of the giant whales and the grace, -speed of .swim- ming, and playfulness of' their smaller relatives -the porpoises and dolphins. The dinosaurs of the geologic past are sometimes erroneously thought of as the largest animals which ever lived. The most tremendous -and in some ways•. the most fascinat- ing -creatures. the world has ever known are not extinct. They are here, at this moment, for man to study and enjoy, A dolphin, strictly speaking, is not a porpoise; and the term "porpoise" was originally meant to apply to other odontocetes. However, common usage leans more and more toward the de- signation of the bottle -nose dol- phin as a porpoise, and it is popularly known by that name in the United States. Since it generally remains within a few miles of shore and readily enters ocean bays and brackish rivers, it is the porpoise most often seen by landlubbers. Its triangular dorsal fin is a familiar sight to swimmers and to fishermen in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, the term "dol- phin" is not restricted entirely to the cetaceans, There are two large game fish, which are also called dolphins. This often leads to some confusion. Another com- mon error, which; could only be made by the uninitiated, is to mistake a swimming porpoise for a shark, yet the difference in the behavior of the two is so fundamental that no one should ever make such a mistake. In swimming, a porpoise "porpo- ises," that is, its fin goes up and down rhythmically as it comes up to breathe. A shark will never porpoise, and its fin - when out of the water re- mains in the same horizontal plane. - From "Porpoises and Sonar," by Winthrop N. Itellogg, Q, What is a good way to clean a hot soldering iron while work- ing with it? A, Fasten the shell of an elec- tric -lamp socket to your work- shop wall or bench, and fill this with steel wool. Then all you have to do Is force the hot Iron into the wool and rotate it to clean it. Attach the socket by driving a wood screw through the hole in the bottom. THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - An antlered tourist identified only as "Jim," shows photographers how the reindeer "who got away" looked. He was in Rovaniomi, Finland. TilL FARM FRONT .c-14 Jalr1 • If people who eat the food produced by farmers could see even a small part of the work and research that keeps improv- ing the, quality of that food, they would surely be less inclined to bemoan what they, call the high price of food. We have just had a quick glimpse behind the scenes here at the Dickinson Experiment Station, one of eight such sta- tions operated in the state by the North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sci- ence. • • • Stockmen are constantly en- deavoring to improve the feed- ing of their animals, both to produce better meat and to hold down the costs of that produc- tion. Many research programs aid them in this -effort, including, some going oh here at Dickinson. in a personally, ;conducted tour, escorted by' Agronomist Thomas Conlon, we saw adjoining ex- perimental fields - one with crested wheatgrass and the other with crested wheatgrass combined with alfalfa. For six years, steers were grazed sepa- rately on these fields and their rate of gain compared. a • * "In the six years of the trial," states the official report on the test, "the crested -alfalfa pastures have produced an average of 121.4 pounds of beef per acre in a spring grazing period averag- ing about 57 days, while the crested wheatgrass pastures have produced 88.7 pounds of beef per acre in the same period." Conclusion: A farmer gets more beef per acre when he seeds crested wheatgrass with alfalfa in his pasture. * o * Feeding experiments for both cattle and hogs are a continuing part of the program here, writes Helen Henley in the Christian Science Monitor, But not all experiments here are for crass commercial pur- poses. Mr. Conlon showed us a tidy little orchard of plum, apple, and crab apple trees -grown just to demonstrate to farmers they can have the pleasure of a fruit tree or two in their yard. Com- mercial orchards would not be feasible in North Dakota, not only because of climate and soil conditions, but also because there isn't sufficient population to justify the large production nec- essary to make orchards commer- cially profitable. But those rosy red crab apples, just about ready to harvest, looked pretty prosperous. • • • "The ladies will be coming in soon to ask us for those apples to make jelly," observed Mr. Conlon. Although North Dakotan s mostly grow corn only for silage, and the average height around Dickinson isn't much over three or four feet, Mr. Conlon proudly displayed one field with some nine -foot stalks, He could be exact about the size, he said, ' because a visitor a few days earlier had measured them with a tape measure. The visitor couldn't believe what he was seeing. But this, Mr. Conlon carefully pointed out, Was well above average in the state, A good strong stand of alfalfa was grown in a dry bed of an old stream -"a grassed waterway," Mr. Conlon explained. The fields spread out before us graphically illustrated how proper planting can utilize water runoff tc nur- ture good crops, Here we saw thriving gr..en coin right along- side of stunted dry corn. The line where the water stopped was clearly discernible. On Farmer Joe Ridl's land nearby, Mr. Conlon pointed out how Mr. Ridl had dammed up the runoff to provide a little reservoir from which he draws water for sprinkler irrigation - a device which enables him to grow a second crop of alfalfa when many farmers here have to settle for just one. • • • "Planting grassed waterways or impounding runoff or build- ing diversion dams makes use of water that otherwise would be wasted," explained Mr. Conlon. He estimated that Mr. Ridl's dam might have cost around $1,000, but the cost would vary with the conditions. A future grove of Christmas trees,- now mere seedlings, is making a brave beginning at the station,, with about 100 trees of six different varieties. The re- searchers propose to find out whether Christmas trees might become a good cash crop for North Dakota farmers. • • It is interesting to note that while a political party in Can- ada seeks to weld farmers and organized labor into a major force, the farmers of California have just administered a re- sounding defeat to a fully chart- ered AFL-CIO union which spent $500,000 in an effort to unionize farm labor, says an editorial in the current issue of "The Grow- er". Not only did the union organizers retire from the battle- field in utter disorder but they, by their actions which included strikes, also gave such further impetus to tjle automation and harvesting techniques that, it is generally agreed, practically ev- ery specialty crop in California will be mechanized to more or less degree in five years' time. • e * The effort to bring labor un- ions and farm organizations to- gether for political action is doomed to failure -the two par- ties are just not compatible. The farmer, caught in a cost -price squeeze, is very conscious of his increased costs, largely the result of continuing demands for more by the unions and the fight of the so-called business world to maintain and often increase the profit ratio. The farmer's fight is similar to that of the business man. It is a fight to improve the profit margin. This alone puts the farmer in a separata category to the unionist. By and large Ontario farmers prefer to walk alone, They haven't reached the stage where they are going to entrust their fate to labor unions and social- ists, especially those in the ranks of the latter who can be regard- ed, in the fullest sense, as "long hairs", Those farmers who might be attracted by the "pie -in -the - sky" programs would do well to study the attractive packages some unions have been able to wrap up for their members. They woulud be amazed at what they would find especially in the ever -widening field of fringe benefits, Abuse of the working man paved the way far unionism. The wheel has turned and now it is some of the major unions who can be accused of abuse. What is now wanted is a clear exposi- tion of some of the contracts negotiated by organized labor with the hourly rates of pay and the ever -widening fringe bene- fits clearly spelled out. Having studied the existing contracts and the established demands It would also be profitable to study the capital gains of the large corporations through inflated stock values. The two arranged alongside of the profit margin on an average farm would make for some illuminating conclusions, :'.•. They're Paid to Break Millions of Eggs if you think "egg -breakers" are those who quiz the eggheads you are making a natural mis- take, the egg -breaking business being little publicized. Egg - breakers are women who, dress- ed in spotless white uniforms, break eggs in a bare, spotless room, maintained at a 68° F. temperature. Of the 60 billion eggs laid in the U.S. per year, six billion are purposely broken annually. The greatest number of eggs Is broken when the price is low -usually in the spring -or when over - production keeps prices down. Eggs laid by chickens younger than 11 months (they are considered Grade B, even though they are still of good quality), and those with stains or cracks, are also broken. Once: out of their shells, they''ar " churned, and pumped through a' centrifugal strainer to ren10Vt any particle of shell that might ' have slipped by the inspector. Then the eggs are canned in 30 - pound containers and, stored in freezing rooms maintained at temperatures of minus 10° to 20' F. There the eggs can be stored for long periods of time. Bakers, and spaghetti and mayonnaise manufacturers buy whites, or yolks, or both, according to their needs. NDAY SCfIUQI LESSON By Rev, R. Barclay Warren. B.A., B.D. Titus, Serving in Hard Places 2 Corinthians 8:6, 23a; Titus 121a, 4-11; 2:7.8. Memory Selection; In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, Titus 2:7 Titus was a Greek, apparently of Antioch, where he became associated with Paul. When they went up to Jerusalem, some Jews insisted that Titus be cir- cumcised. Paul's reaction to this is summed up in Galatians 2:5. "To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." The council of Jerusalem confirmed his action, Titus laboured at Corinth and greatly endeared himself to Paul, But his main work was in the island of Crete. It was a difficult assignment. The Cretans are de- scribed as liars, beasts, lazy, drunken, immoral, violent tem- pered, Titus was apparently the bishop of Crete, left there to "set things in order" and "ordain elders in every city". Paul sets a high standard for an elder and bishop in the church. Here it is as expressed in The New English Bible. "Is he a man of unimpeachable 'character, faithful to his one wife, the father of children who are believers, who are under no imputation of loose living, and are not out of control? For as God's steward a bishop must be of unimpeachable character. He must not be overbearing or short-tempered; he must be no drinker, no brawler, no money - grubber, but hospitable, right- minded, temperate, just, so that he may be well able both to move his hearers with whole- some teaching and to confute objectors." Recently I assisted in a service in which eight people were re- ceived as candidates for the ministry. Three were following the example of father and grand- father and one a was following in the steps of both grandfathers. But more important than the human relationship in deciding for the ministry is the relation- ship to God. 'Paul said, !'F`o'r though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." To succeed in the ministry, we need to have the sense of being divinely called. It is a hard task but most worthwhile. DRIVE WITH CARE I CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Charge 4. Cantonment 5. Social group 12. Acknowledge 13. Spoken 14. Copycat 15. Methodize 17. Indian weight for gold 18. Building wing 19. Suffice 21. Temper 24. June hug 25. Peed fish 20. Shaft of light 28. Is carried 35. British statesman 54. Humorous Terson. 30. Inlet 37. Antitoxin 89. Average 41. wire measurement 42 ('hart 4-i Replenish 40. Neither animal nor vegetable 50 is able 51. Scent 50 Banlah 56, Olive menus 57. Smooth 50• And not 50. Valley 60. Course of eatina 61. weight TOWN 1. In favor of 5. Female sheen 3. Produce 4. Neck ornament 5. Textile screw pine S. Epic poem 31. Ve0. nd 10. 10. Stolen 38. Number pr potty 35. Plkelike risk 11. Salver 38. Spoil 16. Rubber tree 40. Late 80. Rocky 43. Peeled pinnacle 45. Jade 21. Atoms 48. Prams of 22. Vlbrationlees mind point 47. Not busy 23. Canon 48. Christmas 27. One of 49. Son of Jacob 53. Shelter 54. Also 55• Sea eagle Caroline 6. Rugs islands 7. Use arguments 29. Prevailing Answer elsewhere on this page. ATLANTA SCHOOLS INTEGRATED - Arthur Simmons. 16, Donita Gaines, 16, and Willie Jean Black, 15, arrive at Atlanta's Northside High School, Aug. 30, Nine Negro students quietly entered four white high schools in the city. Police guarded the schools and arrested at least six persons who faired to move on smartly wilon ordered to. Mayor William Hartsfield said he was extremely proud of the manner in which Atlanta integrated its schools.