Colin McEnroe Show: Crust, Crumbs And The Magical Appeal of Bread

Take a look at Pablo Neruda's Ode to Bread. We've posted it below. It perfectly sums up what we want to discuss in our show today. If you give a person bread, they immiediately wonder what to put on it or have with it. But what about the bread itself? Maybe it's the most perfect thing of all.

Where do you find really good bread? What makes a good loaf? Is it the crumb? A perfect crust? Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.

Ode To Bread

"Bread,
you rise
from flour,
water
and fire.
Dense or light,
flattened or round,
you duplicate
the mother's
rounded womb,
and earth's
twice-yearly
swelling.
How simple
you are, bread,
and how profound!
You line up
on the baker's
powdered trays
like silverware or plates
or pieces of paper
and suddenly
life washes
over you,
there's the joining of seed
and fire,
and you're growing, growing
all at once
like
hips, mouths, breasts,
mounds of earth,
or people's lives.
The temperature rises, you're overwhelmed
by fullness, the roar
of fertility,
and suddenly
your golden color is fixed."