Dall’8 Marzo, giorno dell’annuncio del blocco, causa contenimento Coronavirus, per la Lombardia e una dozzina di province, compresa quella al confine con la mia (Ancona e Pesaro-Urbino), sono andato a far spesa 4 volte e solo l’ultima volta, giovedì scorso, ho trovato un po’ di farina disponibile, ma niente lievito per dolci ahime. Possibile che tutti stiano a panificare? 3 diverse amiche mi hanno confermato, al telefono, che stavano sfornando pizza e altro come non facevano da tempo, poi oggi, a conferma, mi sono imbattuto in Paolo Giordano sul Financial Times:
Apparently, during the Italian lockdown there has been an increase in the consumption of yeast and flour, the basic ingredients for pizza and cakes. I’m doing it too: I’m kneading and baking more than ever before in my life. It’s a typical Italian thing and should reassure those who from afar want to continue to think of our balconies overflowing with flowers and our tables set for a feast, not this previously unknown version of Italians, silent and worried behind their masks.
But I have barely touched the cakes I have been baking. I just have this urge to knead: to give shape to messy matter, to flatten it, to roll it out, to make it homogenous, then roll it again, spread it a second time. I just need to be able to control something — anything — while the structure of space and time seems to have escaped my comprehension.
Il fenomeno però non è solo italiano, a leggere il Washington Post:
The coronavirus has created the perfect environment for a surge in bread-baking. People suddenly have time around the house to do fiddly things they wouldn’t normally, like proofing yeast and monitoring rising dough.