The Staff of Life
I received a zine from an English artist —titled Barmpot. If you're English then you know that a barmpot is a silly person.
But a barm is also a specific type of bun—round, soft bread—often with a dusting of flour.
In Australia rather than calling someone a barmpot you might say, "he's a nong". According to an Australian dictionary it's a mild and /or endearing insult. Someone who is foolish or incompetent may be a "nong".
Barmpot may also allude to the pot "in which barmcakes are baked, stored or kept wam."
I couldn't find a local bakery selling barms, but I did find a recipe and another linguistic discovery. Soft, floury bread is often called baps.
With a bit more digging I discovered a litany of English names for bread varieties: bloomers, cobs, cottage loaves, Kenish huffkins, Sally Lunns, stotie cakes, buttery rowies.
Karen Booth, a food blogger from England, writes—"...we have over 200 types of bread in Britain."
Britain celebrates National Bread week every April.
We have National Escargot Day May 24th.
National Vinegar Day June 16th
National S'More Day August 21st
And the list goes on and on—but the closest we come to Britain's celebration of bread occurs on April 1st when we honor Sourdough Bread.
National Sourdough Bread Day unfortunately is an "unofficial" national holiday.
But a barm is also a specific type of bun—round, soft bread—often with a dusting of flour.
In Australia rather than calling someone a barmpot you might say, "he's a nong". According to an Australian dictionary it's a mild and /or endearing insult. Someone who is foolish or incompetent may be a "nong".
Barmpot may also allude to the pot "in which barmcakes are baked, stored or kept wam."
I couldn't find a local bakery selling barms, but I did find a recipe and another linguistic discovery. Soft, floury bread is often called baps.
With a bit more digging I discovered a litany of English names for bread varieties: bloomers, cobs, cottage loaves, Kenish huffkins, Sally Lunns, stotie cakes, buttery rowies.
Karen Booth, a food blogger from England, writes—"...we have over 200 types of bread in Britain."
Britain celebrates National Bread week every April.
We have National Escargot Day May 24th.
National Vinegar Day June 16th
National S'More Day August 21st
And the list goes on and on—but the closest we come to Britain's celebration of bread occurs on April 1st when we honor Sourdough Bread.
National Sourdough Bread Day unfortunately is an "unofficial" national holiday.
1 Comments:
Hi!
Just received this barmpot blog. Takes a full day to reach me. I wonder why?
Great reflection on bread words and designated days. Does our secular culture celebrate all these "days" out of some collective memory of celebrating saint's days and feast days. Makes ordinary life more lively maybe.
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