Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2023 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

Whether flat or fluffy, bread is a staple food of many cultures. According to many historians, bread was first made in Egypt around 8000 B.C.E. Here are five fascinating facts to get your started. 1 A living organism is used to make bread. Yeasts are tiny life forms, so small that millions of them fit in ½ teaspoon. Yeasts are useful in making bread because they contain enzymes, which change some substances from one thing to another. As yeasts eat starch (like flour) or sugar, they change them into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, which causes the dough to rise. 2 Bagels... in space! NASA Mission Specialists Greg Chamitoff started his six-month shift on the International Space Station on May 31, 2008, with 18 bagels in tow, all…

Lots of people have eaten gingerbread cookies—more than you might think! Gingerbread has been around a long time and has quite a history. Ginger root originated in Southeast Asia, in the region that is now Indonesia and Malaysia. Starting around 5,000 years ago, it was used as a spice and a medicine, and sailors carried it with them in ships. These travelers spread the plant to China and India, where it was widely used. In the medieval period traders brought it along the Silk Road to Europe, where spices were highly valued, especially in northern countries. By the 14th century, a single pound of ginger root could buy you a sheep in England. Ginger grew roots across Europe. It was especially popular as ginger could make spoiled meats taste better,…

L a Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a whole day dedicated to the dead celebrated in Mexico and parts of North, Central, and South America. In these countries, death is not a stranger to be feared, but an everyday companion. Never sad or scary, the Day of the Dead is a celebration to remember and honor family members who have died. It is a happy, colorful fiesta (party), complete with music, dancing, spirits of both kinds (alcohol and the souls of dead people), and food—lots of food. Celebrated on November 2, the Day of the Dead harks back to early peoples such as the Maya and Aztec. Some of the symbols and practices have been around for at least 3,000 years. The use of the…

Dear Janinne, Hi. I’m Alex. I’m 13 years old and I live in Colorado. My dad says he’s known you since college, and that you traveled around the world in a group taking classes on a ship and visiting more than a dozen countries. That sounds amazing. What was it like? Thank you for being my pen pal. Sincerely, Alex Alex!!!! So happy to hear from you. I live in Baltimore. Semester at Sea is amazing. I loved getting to see so many cultures and taste so many different flavors. It was more of a snapshot of each place because we didn't stay in any country very long. If you could pick anywhere to travel, where would you go? I’m a caterer. I love to share food and experience new…

March 2023 Rio de Janeiro “Yeah, that ball is never coming back down...” —Ishita “Is that a flying squirrel? “ —Madeline I. “Did someone say ‘fetch’?” —Mark and Sam M. “I love treat-os!” —Shepard Answer Page ANSWER TO TRICKY TOAST MAZE ON BACK COVER: ANSWER TO MYSTERY PHOTO ON INSIDE FRONT COVER: Rye grain, like the grains in the picture, is milled into flour and used to make rye breads like pumpernickel. ANSWER TO WHERE IN THE WORLD ON PAGE 19: Mole De Valk is a windmill in the Netherlands. Built in 1743, the sails turned in the wind to grind grain into flour. ANSWERS TO BREAD CROSSWORD ON PAGE 40: ACROSS: 1. poder; 3. yeast; 6. challah; 8. bagel; 9. Brothers Grimm; 10. Germany. DOWN: 1. pita; 2. Pennsylvania;…

Did you know that one of the ingredients used to make your bread is alive? Yeasts are tiny creatures, so small that millions of them fit in just a ½ teaspoon. What are these tiny creatures, and why do we need them to make bread? Yeasts are small single-celled organisms. Some yeasts harm humans, but most are useful, especially when making bread and drinks. There are many types of yeast, and each one is a kind of fungus. They can grow naturally or be grown for use in foods. Natural sources of yeast are found throughout the world, particularly in soil and on plants. They grow well in any place that has sugar. Yeasts Rise to the Occasion Yeasts contain enzymes, substances which cause changes when they eat sugar. Just…

For centuries, people living in villages and towns in Western India rose to the smell of freshly baked bread. Will this aromatic awakening soon be just a distant memory? Bread in the Land of Rice India is a land of rice. In fact, the country is the world’s second largest consumer of the cereal. But in Goa, a Western Indian state with a population of about 1.4 million people, bread is boss. Here, people switched their preference from rice to bread around 400 years ago. That’s when merchants from Portugal colonized Goa. Their influence on bread-making in the state lives on. In fact, the Goan word for baker is poder (PAW-dur), derived from the Portuguese padeiro, baker. But Goan bread isn’t a mere imitation of the Portuguese food. For one,…

Tasty Tortillas Tortillas round flatbreads made from corn or wheat flour have been a staple in Mexico and Central American for millennia. Chicomecoatl, or Seven Serpent, was the Aztec godess of corn. Corn has been the staple food for Mesoamerican people for over 6,000 years. Corn is soaked in limewater and ground it into dough called masa with a stone called a metate. The masa is pressed and baked into tortillas. Tortilla comes from the Spanish word torta, which means “cake.” Tortilla literally means “little cake.” Original tortillas were only made using corn flour. When Europeans reached Central America in the 1400s they brought wheat flour with them. Flour tortillas were born soon after. They’re mostly popular in Northern Mexico and the United States. How does a tortilla chip…

This is a story of Finn McCool, the great and glorious Irish hero, and the giant Benadonner, the strongest man alive. Benadonner had heard of Finn’s strength, and wanted to battle him to show who was the best fighter in the Celtic world (Ireland and Scotland). Finn lived with his wife, Oonagh (OO-nuh), at the top of Knockmany Hill, in County Tyrone. When Finn heard that Benadonner was looking for him, he said to his wife, “I do not know what to do. I will be disgraced if I run. But if I fight him, I will surely lose.” “Do not fret, my dear. You can depend on me,” said Oonagh. First, Oonagh made Finn’s night shirt into a giant baby’s sleeper. Next, she kneaded dough to make two loaves…

You may not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you can judge bread by its shape. The shape of a loaf often leads right to the heart of the culture, history, and religion of the people who traditionally make and eat it. Take the Ancient Greeks who lived in a world where fuel was relatively scarce. Because the Mediterranean climate was mild, small fires were kindled on the home hearth. Bread that could be baked on a hot stone in an open fireplace presented a decided advantage over larger loaves that needed to be baked in an oven. Greek traditional bread, or plakous, closely resembled what we call “pita” today. These small, flat breads could easily hold other dinner ingredients. No need to worry about dishes;…

Dead bread is made only for the Day of the Dead. Offered in memory of a loved one, the bread (pan de muerto) is a symbol of life that reminds us that life, like bread, is also consumed—by death. Dead bread is heavy and a little sweeter than most bread, but not as sweet as a pastry. Often it is flavored with orange extract and anise, a spice that tastes like licorice. Traditionally, the bread is baked in a round loaf and decorated with crossed bones made from extra dough. It also may be shaped like a man or woman and decorated with dough knobs that stand for bones or tears. Dead bread is unlike the flat tortilla typically eaten in Mexico. Whether it is made at home or bought,…

Thought to be one of the oldest snack foods, historians say the pretzel had its beginnings in Italy. The story tells of an Italian monk who lived around 610 C.E. While working in the monastery bakery, the monk had some extra dough left over from his bread-making. He decided to roll pieces of pencil-thin dough into the shape of someone in prayer. At the time, people prayed by crossing their hands and resting them onto the chest. After cooking the dough, the monk told children that if they could recite a prayer, he would give them a treat. He called the treats pretiola, which means “little reward” in Latin. The treats were very popular, and the children eagerly studied their lessons so they could receive a pretiola. The pretiola eventually…

About 5,000 years ago, in one of those lucky accidents of history, a baker left batter out in the open air. Wild yeasts (found in the air) fell in, and when the bread was baked, it had a light, tender texture. Centuries later, in California, this “sourdough” became as much a part of the gold rush as the gold itself. No baking powder or yeast was available to the gold seekers. People had to depend on wild yeasts, but it took time to capture them. Sometimes the yeasts were bad, and the batter had to be thrown away. Thus, every prospector took pains to save his sourdough starter. A miner who lost his starter might have to walk miles to borrow some. To keep his starter alive, a miner carried…