We have a communal bread oven in the village. It used to be used by all the villagers for baking bread, but now, even if the people wanted to bake their own bread, everyone has their own oven, so it has fallen into disuse.
But it still works, and it offers a good excuse for a shindig, and once a year it is fired up and is the focal point of a bring-and-share party for the locals. People bring their domestic speciality dishes, wine, pizzas, wine, potatoes, wine, salads, wine, fruit and wine in an extravaganza of bonhomie and gourmandise.
I didn't realise, but there is no fire in the oven while it is doing the actual cooking. It is heated by burning wood inside it, starting the day before, and on the day itself the burning wood is shuffled around the interior to heat it all evenly. The burning wood and embers are then scraped out, and the cooking is done using the heat retained by the brick walls. You can see the smoke coming out of the chmney from the fire the day before the fête.
To add to the fun, some coloured lights were hung up over the eating area, and since we were in the middle of a heat wave, all the tables and chairs were outside under the sky.
2 comments:
That looks like a lot of fun. Jealous I am.
Hi Tim how are you doing? I always think of you whenever I come across Black & Decker, and the branding section of the marketing course we were both on, when you commented: "I need a Black & Decker hair drier like a hole in the head"
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