Walk into the Uru Art Harbour in Mattancherry, where an exhibition of the same title curated by Riyas Komu is currently on, you will find 13 different art projects featuring various stories related to Mattancherry.
Among them, Breudher: The Bread of the Dead, a project by Ananya Rajoo and Sudhith Xavier, stands out for its culinary narrative.
The project, which is an amalgamation of photographs, text, and video, traces the culinary history of Breudher, a sweet, buttery bread that came to the shores of Kochi with the Dutch and later found a place with the Anglo-Indian community that lived here.
To comprehend the history of Breudher, it is important to understand the Dutch invasion that occurred in 1663 after two major wars.
The first part of this art project — Breudher: The Dutch Cake caters that aspect.
On the wall, there is a photograph with a detailed description of the Dutch invasion and how their culinary elements got mixed with the Anglo-Indian culture.
The Dutch ruled the place till 1795 when British conquered Kochi. Each invasion left its imprints in the culinary culture of Kochi. From the Dutch came Breudher, which looks like bread but tastes like cake. “The Anglo-Indians call it Dutch cake. In the past, it was in great demand in Kochi. But now it is a rarity. Only a few bakeries here make this,” says Ananya.
The duo — Ananya and Sudhith — who runs a research-oriented online magazine Route Cochin, which delves deep into the history and culture of Kochi, stumbled upon Breudher during one of their story hunts.
“We came to know about it from local people. There is a Quality Bakery in Pattalam where Breudher is prepared on Saturdays. They have a few Anglo-Indian customers, who buy it for Sunday breakfast. The bakery was started by Chandran, who, back then, worked in bakeries that made Anglo-Indian snacks. When he launched his own bakery, he added Breudher there. He taught the recipe to his staff, who still prepare Breudher there,” says Ananya. “They could talk about the recipe to us but had no idea about the historical part. For that, we went and met Anglo-Indian members living here. It took us three months to accumulate information and do this,” she adds.
The second part of the project – Breudher: The Bread of The Dead — shows how it is served in Anglo-Indian households.
“The bread has a ceremonial significance in the community. They serve it as breakfast at the seventh-day ceremony of the deceased persons. They will butter Breudher and make a sandwich. On that day, after the morning mass, Breudher will be served with green string plantain and black coffee. There will be puffs or cookies along with this combination,” explains Ananya.
But, Breudher is not confined to ceremonial days. “They eat it on other days as well. However, this is Breudher’s significance in the Anglo-Indian community,” she adds.
Then, there is a video — Breudher: A Reminiscence, where the Anglo-Indian community members share their memories about Breudher.
“It is still part of their culture, but its use has been receding. These days, the seventh-day ceremony is mostly conducted in the noon or afternoon and hence they will be serving lunch or dinner. There won’t be space for a breakfast bread. Compared to before, Breudher’s popularity has come down,” says Ananya. “So, they share their memories about this bread — Breudher’s taste during those days, how it changed with time and how the bread was served at their homes. Along with that, Merilla Issacs, an Anglo-Indian, recreates Breudher using her mother’s recipe.”
Next, we see three Breudher recipes — by Merilla Issacs, Trevor Morris, and Blanch Rose D’Cruz — the Route Cochin team collected from Anglo-Indian households.
“There are small differences in the recipes. For instance, if one uses toddy as the fermenting agent, the other uses yeast. Trevor Morris is a baker. He used to bake Breudher. Not now, as the demand has reduced. And also because it is a time-consuming process. He is old and has health reasons,” says Ananya.
In the last part — Breudher: A shift from Symbolism of Birth to Symbolism of Death, the duo explains about other Dutch colonies like Colombo, Malacca, and Jakarta, where Breudher has got a different significance.
“Like Anglo-Indians of Fort Kochi, Eurasian communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia have Breudher in their cuisine. However, in those cultures, it is a Christmas cake served as breakfast on Christmas day. In Sri Lanka and a few other places, it is served with Edam Cheese, another item that came through the Dutch,” says Ananya. But, they couldn’t trace how it became a symbolism of death in Kochi. “This is a small part of the Anglo-Indian culture. Not much written history is available on that,” says Ananya.
