Saturday, December 8, 2007

Estranged

A tannour is a vertical oven in which bread is cooked by sticking the dough on the walls. I think it is the same as the Indian tandoor. It used to be very common in Lebanon, but had almost disappeared. One reason is that it is too hard work: there is a saying that says" She's coming back from the tannour" to indicate that someone is very tired. Tannour is making a comeback in the Bekaa area of Lebanon, this article says. This is a small story about Umm Muhammad, who built her own tannour on the main road between Hermel and Baalback and makes bread with her daughters and sells it (10 big loaves for $1). She must not be making much profit, considering the price of wheat and flour. Poverty, she says, estranges you in your own country.

4 comments:

bech said...

From where would she get the wheat and flour?

bech said...

yaaneh red 3alayna bass mnes2al su2al! :-)

Rami Zurayk said...

sorry ya Bech bas kin am bit7arra la a3rif jawbak. I asked around and the flour is a mixture of local and imported.

bech said...

ah tayeb, no problem. ta na3ref shu 3am nekol yaaneh, men wara te3limetak ya ustaz