Breaking Bread in Morocco and Uzbekistan
Bread is an important part of culture around the world—here is how people in Morocco and Uzbekistan incorporate the foodstuff into their cultural traditions.
Bread, for hundreds of years, has been a symbol of generosity and warmth, and when you travel, you can learn a lot about a place and its people by breaking bread with the locals. In Morocco and Uzbekistan, we followed the smell of freshly baked bread to learn more about what these round loaves mean to these countries.
Bread in Morocco, known as khobz, is more than just a staple food; it's considered sacred (if a piece falls to the floor, it must be picked up and kissed). As a guest you will always be offered bread with tea; it’s a gesture of friendship and the way bonds are built.
In the quiet neighborhood of Sidi Ben Slimane in Marrakech, Abdullah opens his bakery just as the sun rises and morning prayers have ended. This is not a conventional bakery but a communal oven or ferrane.
In Marrakech, every neighborhood has a ferrane where dough, made by each home, is brought each morning to be baked. Bread is a symbol of community in Morocco, and it is no surprise that Abdullah knows each customer by name, and enquires about their lives before taking their bread to be baked.
Bread is also an important part of every day life in Uzbekistan. Known as naan or non, no meal is served without one of these round crusty flat loaves.
This baker from Bukhara, pictured with his family, has been baking bread his entire life. Before each loaf is put in the oven, known as a tandir, it is stamped in the middle with a pattern that tells its eater which bakery it came from.
Bread in Uzbekistan is considered a gift from god, and it is often an important part of marriage and engagement ceremonies. When a groom proposes he brings bread to the home of his intended, and the breaking bread between the families symbolizes a bond that cannot be broken.
In markets in Uzbekistan, you’ll often found bread sold in vintage baby carriages, a wonderful reminder of a country at a crossroads; a place where ancient traditions coexist with Soviet relics, while the 21st century beckons.