The story of bread began when people settled down and began farming and growing cereals. The story of bread integrates with the story of poverty. 65-year-old Fatemeh Rashidi bakes bread in a tandoor oven every day to make a living for her family despite her age.

JİRAN MOHAMADİ

Mahabad – Women and children are most affected by poverty. The story of bread, which we met thanks to agriculture and agricultural society, perhaps the first revolution in the world, is mentioned with poverty as the economic crisis deepens in the world. Women bake bread in the tandoor oven despite their advancing age to not “beg for a piece of bread”.

Tandoori bread is her only source of income

65-year-old Fatemeh Rashidi lives in the Mahabad city of Iran. “Tandoori bread is our only source of income,” she told us while baking bread in a tandoor oven. We saw her pride and exhaustion on her face while she said, “I am the breadwinner of my family”. She has baked bread in her tandoor oven for five years in order to earn a living for her family. Fatemeh has taken care of her disabled husband and three children for many years.

She begins to work at night

“I begin to work at night. I knead the dough at night and start baking bread in the morning. Everything is so expensive.  We make a living by baking bread, but now we have a hard time even buying flour. People like tandoori bread and buy them. Tandoori bread is delicious and kept for a long time,” she told us.

“We are getting poorer every day”

Stating that dozens of women make a living by baking bread in the city, Fatemeh Rashidi said that they bake bread in order to bring home the bacon. She complains about the rising prices. “We are poor and we are getting poorer every day. Baking bread is not easy work. But I’m afraid of being sick because I am old enough. If I get sick, who will take care of my children? How will I receive treatment? I have no health insurance. People who don’t have health insurance should be supported,” she told us.

After speaking to us, Fatemeh Rashidi kept baking bread in her tandoor oven.