Bread Baking and Spinning Wheels

I just started reading, The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book:  A Guide to Whole-Grain BreadMaking.  Thanks Christina, for the recommendation. 

It looks like a great cookbook and I’m looking forward to trying out recipes but at the moment, all I can think about is the inspiring introduction titled, “Always a Choice.”

It tells the story of Ghandi’s efforts to free his people from British rule by teaching them to be self-reliant.  “He believed the people of India, the vast majority of whom lived in villages, would be in no position to take responsibility for governing themselves effectively until they were also able to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves.”  

Reading about the way the British overtook the Indian textile industry and thereby suppressed the Indian people reminded me strongly of our nation’s oppressive food system.  A very small number of corporations grow, raise, harvest, prepare, package, and sell the vast majority of our nation’s food.  Most of us have lost the ability to feed ourselves.  If we couldn’t get to a grocery store or restaurant, what would we eat?  I agree with Ghandi that our ability to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves says something about our ability to govern ourselves.  I don’t think we’re doing a great job at any of those things.  But Ghandi offers hope.  He believed the revolution he hoped for would take years and it would happen as individuals got out their spinning wheels and learned to use them.

The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book urges readers to engage in our own self-reliance revolution by learning to bake our own bread.  I think it’s a great idea.

Here’s a link to a more eloquent article on the Story of Ghandi and the spinning wheel.