To the shore of Mukhavets River for a round loaf

A resident of Kobrin told why she returned to Belarus after living abroad for a decade and a half

Italy or Belarus? The answer is obvious to Anna Marach. Having lived abroad for a decade and a half, she returned to her native Kobrin and is happy. “I’m proud that I was born and raised in this city,” says Anna, to whom we came for fragrant wheat bread. A year ago, she learned to bake loaves and is glad that baking, which has become her favourite business in her life, is gaining momentum. 

She felt her roots

“Remember the finale of the And Quiet Flows the Don film, the episode when Melekhov returns to the small village? Grigory, worn around the edges, stands at the gates of his home, and his feelings overwhelm him. There are tears in the eyes. A dream has come true — he is in his native land, he is happy, despite what he has experienced. So am I. In Italy, I really missed my loved ones, the quiet streets of Kobrin, the park, Mukhavets River, the Dnieper-Bug Canal... If those who left say that they are not sad for Belarus, don’t believe it — it’s not true,” Anna begins answering a ‘why did you come back?’ question that is already familiar to her.
In Italy, she had a settled life. They lived in a family mansion. Her husband is a cardiologist. Surrounded by care and love, Anna gave birth to a daughter. They named her Raquel in honour of her mother-in-law, with whom she developed friendly relations.
During her life in a small town on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the Belarusian graduated from the culinary academy in Florence and even organised a small business — during the season she rented out rooms to tourists and fed them.
“What went wrong?” I’m still trying to get a specific answer out of Anna.
Gesturing like a true Italian, she expressively continues, “Bright, warm, passionate! Sun-dried tomatoes, limoncello, lasagna. Yes, this is Italy. But this is how tourists see her on vacation in the summer. And then there is winter, when the wind blows garbage all over the coast, when trees fall, and you can be left without electricity for several days... But there are many serious problems that are unusual for us, which are impossible to ignore.”
Then Anna talks about children growing up early who can smoke drugs when gathered in a group in a crowded place. About gays who do not hesitate to demonstrate their relationships...
“You still remain Belarusian there, no matter how hard you try to assimilate. When I came to my parents in Kobrin, the first thing I did was run to the grocery store to buy Belarusian products. Someone, perhaps, missed the birch trees, but I missed this store,” Anna believes that she did not take root in a foreign country because she felt her roots.
When Raquel grew up and the question arose about which school she would go to, Anna decided: to Kobrin. The husband did not argue. By the way, Gianni and Anna are still married, despite the two thousand kilometres that separated them. They go to visit each other.
The first thing Anna was pleasantly pleased with upon arriving in Kobrin with her daughter was the visit of a paediatrician, 
“In Italy, the pediatrician does not come to your home. You have to go to a private office, not even a clinic with all the ‘delights’ in the form of flu or pneumonia.”
If you want, you won’t forget Italian, she says, even in Kobrin, especially since there are natives of the Apennine Peninsula in the city, “There lives with us an Italian married to a Belarusian woman. After the events of 2020, he left for his homeland, and recently I met him in a store — he returned. He says it’s more comfortable in Belarus.”

One day she decided to try

One of the loaves that were presented at the regional festival of grain growers of the Brest Region in Gantsevichi was baked by Anna Marach. Sunny, like a grain field, decorated with sunflowers and poppies made of dough, and at the base there are stylised bags of grain with the names of farms. Many people paid attention to it, because in the loaf the story of the harvest was read and praise was given to the hands of the farmers.
“This was an order from the Zhabinka District. But not the first. I baked 12 loaves for the combine operators in the summer. I was very worried, but I promised and did it within 24 hours!” Anna clarified.
  It took Anna a long time to get into the baking craft. Remembering that my mother’s side of the family loved to bake pies, she decided to try it one day, “I baked it and put it up on the Internet, but no one bought it. Then I cut it up and distributed it to the neighbours.”
Flour, butter, egg, yeast... It’s only at first glance that it seems simple to create a loaf, says the nice baker, 
“The Internet is full of recipes, but there are secrets that nothing is said about. I learned them step by step, having fed more than one defective loaf to my aunt’s chickens. For example, all decorative petals must be of the same weight, otherwise the loaf will grow crooked during the baking process.”
Anna was convinced that a loaf of bread has a soul, and you only need to take on baking in a good mood: with a smile, with gratitude to the Universe for the gift of the day and the opportunity to create. The process is completely absorbing.
“I keep an eye on everything — from kneading the dough to baking. I’m not distracted by anything,” the woman admits.
This year she baked quite a few loaves for grain growers. Very proud of this. But the favourite ones are still wedding ones. Rich and lush, which sometimes takes up to three days. Here Anna tries to strictly observe, or rather, recreate, Belarusian traditions, 
“People watch other people’s films and adopt other people’s things. Like, for example, the bride throwing a bouquet. In the end, one girl catches it, and she is happy, the rest are sad. But in Belarus, since ancient times, things have been done differently. Wiser. They baked beads and decorated the loaf with them. Then the matchmakers distributed beads, as well as flowers, cones, and various dough figures to all the unmarried girls, and no one was offended.”
Next year Anna plans to attend the most hospitable Belarusian festival called Batskava Bulka. With her own loaf, of course.

By Valentina Kozlovich
Photos by Pavel Bogush