GIVE US THIS DAY...

I like these "whirly breads" or girelle, which can be bought, freshly made, at any bakery, salumeria or supermarket. Cut into pieces, one will go a long way. This one is flavoured with cheese, but other fillings such as sausage are possible.

A table without bread is unthinkable in Italy, and it will often be placed simply on the cloth, for you to break off the portions that you want. Or it will be served on a board, in which case, even today, it is usually the head of the household who cuts it.

The shaping of bread into decorative patterns is an ancient tradition and the Sicilians are masters at this. According to Mary Taylor Simeti, until quite recently, women kneading bread at home used to pause between each step to utter special prayers. During the 17th and 18th centuries, though, it was actually forbidden to bake bread at home here; this was because in times of famine governments wanted to ensure fair distribution. Therefore ovens in the home were regarded, until the end of WW2, as luxury items, and families used to take their prepared dough to neighbourhood bakeries, having "carved" their initials into it. I wonder if this explains the fact that so many shapes and varieties of bread are still made here by professional bakers ?

In Sicily, which is so fertile but which has also known so much poverty, bread was and is so venerated that within living memory, people believed that if they let any breadcrumbs fall from the table, they would be condemned forever, in hell, to sweeping them up with their eyelashes.

So when I cut into my "cheese whirly" at lunch time, I remember all this history and I am truly grateful to have been able to obtain it so easily.