The Lunch Pail of Brown Bread and Cheese
A deliberately poor snack: dense bread, a keeping cheese, and an apple. Nothing more than what a worker could slip into a pocket to get through the day.
A deliberately poor snack: dense bread, a keeping cheese, and an apple. Nothing more than what a worker could slip into a pocket to get through the day.
Do not expect a feast: this dark bread and this wedge of cheese are all I allow myself, for how could I swallow more when the man at the neighboring bench has no more? Hunger, you see, attaches the mind to the bodies of others; it is a form of attention. I broke the bread between two drilling operations, sometimes oil on the crumb, and I found in it an austere joy that rich tables ignore. Eat slowly, and think of the one whose hands grew this wheat.
- •Brown bread (wholemeal sourdough) — a hunk (nourishing base)
- •Keeping cheese (cantal, tomme) — a piece (protein, salt)
- •Apple — 1 (freshness, sober dessert)
- •Olive oil — a drizzle (optional) (binder, rare luxury)
The Lunch Pail of Brown Bread and Cheese
A deliberately poor snack: dense bread, a keeping cheese, and an apple. Nothing more than what a worker could slip into a pocket to get through the day.
Why this dish? In 1934-1935, Simone Weil left teaching to work as a factory worker, notably at Renault in Billancourt, to share the condition of the oppressed. Her daily fare was that of the workers: a hunk of bread, a piece of cheese, a fruit, eaten quickly between shifts. She forbade herself, on principle, from eating better than the humblest.
Do not expect a feast: this dark bread and this wedge of cheese are all I allow myself, for how could I swallow more when the man at the neighboring bench has no more? Hunger, you see, attaches the mind to the bodies of others; it is a form of attention. I broke the bread between two drilling operations, sometimes oil on the crumb, and I found in it an austere joy that rich tables ignore. Eat slowly, and think of the one whose hands grew this wheat.
Ingredients (period version)
- Brown bread (wholemeal sourdough) — a hunk (nourishing base)
- Keeping cheese (cantal, tomme) — a piece (protein, salt)
- Apple — 1 (freshness, sober dessert)
- Olive oil — a drizzle (optional) (binder, rare luxury)
Ingredients
- Wholemeal sourdough country bread — 2 thick slices (nourishing base)
- Cantal entre-deux or tomme de Savoie — 80 g (protein, salt)
- Apple (reinette) — 1 (freshness)
- Extra virgin olive oil — 1 tsp (binder)
Method
- Cut two thick slices of country bread, without toasting.
- Slice the cheese into thin pieces and place on the bread.
- Drizzle with olive oil if desired.
- Wash the apple and eat everything standing or walking, as was done at the workshop break.
How it was made : Workers in the interwar period carried their cold meal in a cloth or lunch pail; bread and cheese formed the universal "casse-croûte," supplemented by a seasonal fruit and sometimes a little wine cut with water.
The contemporary twist : Serve on a raw wooden board with the cheese at room temperature: sobriety becomes elegance.
Sources : Simone Weil, La Condition ouvrière (factory journal, 1934-1935) · Simone Pétrement, La Vie de Simone Weil (1973)
Simone Weil · Charactorium