A map of sourdough starters for sharing, in the Czech Republic

Sharing sourdough starters is a time-honored tradition. Tonight I gave part of the starter that the Alyeska Bake Shop shared me on Easter to a friend down the street. They got it in 1964 from the Sourdough Lodge  on the Richardson Highway near Gakona, Alaska, and the Lodge folk in turn got it from "a fortune-seeking gold miner" in the late 1800s. Thus, a map published by Matador Network on March 18, 2013 struck a chord. The author, Tereza Jarnikova, described it as:

"Sourdough bread is made using naturally occurring yeast. The process involves making a mixture of flour and water and waiting for natural yeast and bacteria to come hang out with it. Once this happens, the dough can start rising, but it can be a painfully slow and ornery process, so it’s much easier to just get a piece of naturally yeasted dough (called a starter) from someone who has one and then keep it alive. Enter the sourdough map, which maps people in your neighbourhood who have a sourdough starter and are willing to share it. The heartening and fascinating thing about it all is the sheer number of participants — from the map it looks like no matter where you are, there is someone within ten kilometers of you who will help you bake homemade bread. Here, in our little forgotten country of the Czech Republic, invisible in the streets, is a whole army of people who care about homemade food. The project is simple and brilliant and fills me with some small amorphous optimism about the world."










Scroll down for the map:

Najděte si ve svém okolí člověka, který se s vámi podělí o kvásek!
 Nenašli jste špendlík ve svém městě? Prohlédněte si úplnou verzi kváskové mapy!