الْمَلَّةُ: خُبْزٌ مِنَ الرَّمْلِ الْحَارِّ

فِي بَلْدَةِ مَحَامِيدِ الْغِزْلَانِ، فِي صَحْرَاءِ جَنُوبِ شَرْقِ الْمَغْرِبِ، مِهْرَجَانٌ لِلرُّحَّلِ. فِي الْمِهْرَجَانِ يَخْبِزُ رِجَالٌ مِنَ الْمِنْطَقَةِ خُبْزَ «الْمَلَّةِ». وَالْمَلَّةُ خُبْزٌ يَعْرِفُهُ الرُّحَّلُ فِي الصَّحْرَاءِ. أَوَّلًا يَخْلِطُ الرِّجَالُ الدَّقِيقَ وَالْمِلْحَ وَالْمَاءَ. ثُمَّ يَعْجِنُونَ الْعَجِينَ، وَيَصْنَعُونَ مِنْهُ أَقْرَاصًا. ثُمَّ يُشْعِلُونَ نَارًا مِنَ الْخَشَبِ بِجَانِبِ الرَّمْلِ. ثُمَّ يَضَعُونَ الْأَقْرَاصَ فِي رَمْلٍ حَارٍّ جِدًّا. الْخُبْزُ جَاهِزٌ بَعْدَ دَقَائِقَ قَلِيلَةٍ. وَلَيْسَ فِيهِ رَمْلٌ. الْأَفْرَانُ قَلِيلَةٌ فِي الصَّحْرَاءِ، لِذَلِكَ يَخْبِزُ الرُّحَّلُ فِي الرَّمْلِ. وَفِي النِّهَايَةِ يُعْطِي الرُّحَّلُ الْخُبْزَ لِلزُّوَّارِ. ثُمَّ يَرْقُصُونَ وَيُغَنُّونَ أَغَانِيَ الصَّحْرَاءِ.

In the town of M’hamid El Ghizlane, in the desert of south-east Morocco, there is a festival for nomads. At the festival, men from the area bake “mella” bread. Mella is a bread that the nomads of the desert know. First the men mix flour, salt and water. Then they knead the dough and make rounds from it. Then they light a wood fire next to the sand. Then they put the rounds in very hot sand. The bread is ready after a few minutes. And there is no sand in it. There are few ovens in the desert, so the nomads bake in the sand. At the end the nomads give the bread to the visitors. Then they dance and sing songs of the desert.