Ah, pita bread, gift of the gods - staff of life!
I first encountered pita bread when I was young. My mother would take my sister and me to the Christmas fair at Lansdowne Park, where we would have lunch at the Lebanese Ladies Auxiliary stall. There, we ate hummus, tabouleh, and pita bread - the holy triumvirate of Lebanese cuisine.
In fact, that's all I thought there was to Lebanese food until, after university, I moved to downtown Ottawa and discovered all the shawarma joints that had suddenly mushroomed there in the intervening years. In addition to this savoury grilled meat on a skewer, I learned to love its many accompaniments: garlic sauce, pickled turnip, the bread salad known as fattoush, fried cauliflower & eggplant, falafel...yum!
Of course, I know there is even more to Lebanese food than that which is found in a shawarma shop, but I think this is a great way to become introduced to the healthy and flavourful food of this region. And, in this cuisine, the pita bread is king.
I used to buy pita bread at the grocery store, but now that I live so close to a Middle Eastern grocery, my standards have gone way up. Now, I won't buy pita bread unless it passes the "sniff & poke" test.
First, I poke at the various packets of pita bread. If I find one that is soft, I sniff it. If I can smell fresh baked bread through the plastic bag, then I buy it.
There is rhyme to my reason, of course; after a day or two, pita bread becomes dry and leathery - not at all the stuff that sandwich dreams are made of. But when it is soft it is just right for gobbling down with hummus, guacamole, peanut butter & banana...any way you like.
At Damas Supermarket, some of the pita bread comes from Montreal and some from Ottawa. I would prefer to buy the Ottawa product, but sometimes the Montreal ones are fresher. Of course, it depends on when it was delivered.
My favourite way to eat pita bread? Ah, this concoction comes from the summers of my youth: slather hummus inside a pita bread. Make a green salad of lettuce, cucumbers, green onions and Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing. Stuff it in the pita pocket and eat it on the steps outside your house, while basking in the sun. Then, take a nap, for you will feel deliciously sleepy...
