Tandoor Bread

January 28th, 2018


After two months in the city center, I found myself facing with reality and fascinated by the interaction.

I didn’t have anything to eat for the first two days. My Afghan neighbour gave a box of eggs and some tandoor breads. These breads are so valuable in the camp…

After learning about the markets and shopping, I met with many kinds of breads and bought small loaves my children love.

When I went to the kitchen, I saw that view surprised me the most. Every family were making breads with their flour in the kitchen. There are 10 ovens in the kitchen, every morning and evening there I saw people making their breads. I believe, wherever you go, with your luggage your whole life in, you take your culture with you.

I have seen people like Arabic men and Afghan women that have already mastered about making bread. Making a tandoor in the camp balcony filled my dreams until leaving the camp.

I also kneaded doughs with the motivation of delicious smell of breads. Baked them bravely while male and female kitchen regulars staring at me.

It took two months to take myself away from the kitchen. I was falling in a black hole, so the kitchen was keeping me sane.

Life in camp was too far away from the life in Europe. This country has many kinds of breads. Sour yeast, sweet yeast, rye, whole- wheat, grain mix, rare, medium rare, overdone, and many other kinds. We tasted them one by one, careful for not wasting.

A proverb says ‘’The community divides their bread won’t be divided.’’ Many messengers of God have worked as bakeries and the bread is considered as a blessed food.

In this camp, the most valuable and close to share thing was the bread, made with the experience of years. And the most painful view was the same bread being wasted in children’s hands.

Pieces of the breads of the people divided into pieces…