I went to a local bakery run by two Egyptian brothers who had lived in the US for while – during which time they learned how to make bread and pastries that are extremely palatable to a Western palate and I’m sure provide a lucrative income for them now.
So I’m in there trying to decide which variety of bread would go best with a very tasty cheese that I’d bought for dinner. I didn’t want a bread that would have too strong a flavor of its own because I wanted it to complement, not compete, with the flavor of the cheese. I explained this to one of the brothers when he tried to help me.
He wanted to tell me what I wanted to hear and replied that any bread would do. I tried again to explain that I didn’t want anything that had too much flavor on its own. He said that his bread had no flavor. Of course this struck me as very funny – what a way to sell your product! I laughed a little and that confused him further. He didn’t see what was so funny. It has no flavor, he insisted, it’s just bread.
Rather than try to explain, I chose the multigrain. It had plenty of flavor actually – and it was fantastic with the cheese.
Heh. Glad you enjoyed the bread with no flavor! Translation is everything!
by anny cook June 25th, 2009 at 9:41 am