23: BALM Podcast - Felicity Spector

Twice during this podcast, I had to fight quite an emotional response — which really surprised me.- You can also watch this Podcast in the Sourdough School here and find the links to the book to buyWe’ve all become a little numb, haven’t we? The news cycle grinds on — summits, politicians, empty words. But this conversation is something else entirely.This podcast is about bakers and bread — and what it’s like to bake in a war zone. To make sourdough in a city being bombed. To feed people when there’s nothing. Felicity Spector brings stories from Ukraine that are so raw, so real, they stop you in your tracks. Her book, Bread and War, is written with prose that transports you: to bakeries under siege, to soldiers eating syrniki in flak jackets, to mothers and sons separated, to families baking against the odds.It’s humbling. It’s human. It’s filled with quiet courage. And it reminds us that bread — real bread — has no borders.I have Russian students. I have Ukrainian students. I teach people from 84 countries around the world. Bread has no boundaries. We need peace. We need to put the weapons down and bake together.I don’t believe bakers make war. I believe politicians sell weapons and grab land. Forgive my non-partisan stance, but I won’t take sides. I will say that Felicity is possibly one of the most inspiring journalists I’ve had the privilege to interview.This episode is one I urge you to listen to. And please — buy the book. Bread and War is as close as you’ll get to the truth of Ukraine without being there yourself.