Pita Bakery in Cana



Canan baker that made me a very memorable pita


One of the joys of traveling in Israel is the culture surrounding food. Some of my brightest memories are connected to the opportunities we had to eat local foods. After visiting Cana,  the sight of Jesus' first miracle, turning water into wine, we made our way down the narrow streets. Shops were mostly small with a wide doorways opening into smalls rooms selling every kind of goods imaginable. One dark doorway caught my eye as we walked past. In the back I could see the bright glow of a fire and as I paused and peered in I recognized a stone bread oven. The daily bread for much of the middle east is a variation of the flat bread pita. The Cana variety was a  full 14 inches across and rather then being baked on heated stone deck it was thrown, Frisbee style, directly on the red hot coals. A moment later, aided by a skinny stick the baker flicked his wrist and the pita was on it back. Another moment in the coals and the baker flipped the finished bread out of the oven. A quick dusting with a bristle brush removed most, but not all, of the blackened bits of charcoal that had adhered. Hospitality is held in high regard whether you are in Palestinian or Jewish  controlled areas. The predominately Arab town of Cana was no different and although the bakers knew no English and I knew no Arabic with wild gestures and the exchange of one American dollar I had a steaming pita bread in a bag and onto the bus where we passed it around for everyone to sample.