Food Reviews from Behind Bars

Was posted by Imam Anwar alAwlaki on August-21-2008

I am done with my book reviews, so now let’s take a culinary tour of prison. The first item on the list is kudam.
The definition of kudam is a unique creature that exists on Yemeni military bases and prisons. It is the plural of kudma or kidma. The unique thing about kudam is that no two are equal in shape or color. The color can range anywhere from off-white to black. The shape of kudam does not conform to known geometric shapes. To a first time observer, they might appear to be visitors from outer space. Their size is usually equal to a large fist.
Do you have any idea what kudam really are?
Kudam are the staple breads of prisoners and soldiers in Yemen. They are fascinating pieces of art.
Kudam are transported from bakeries to military basis and prisons around the country on open flatbed trucks and are therefore subjected to wind, dust, sun, rain and the various forms of life that would naturally want to devour them. However kudam are pretty resistant to the elements, with the exception of rain, which they never handle well.
Kudam are supposed to be multigrain. That is how it was in the old days. Now they are most likely whole-wheat. They are fermented so their taste resembles San Francisco’s sourdough bread (those who live in America would know what I am talking about). They consist of a solid crust (and I mean really solid); they could be used for fights. They are covered with a layer of loose flour plus whatever particles have become attached to them along their route to prison, such as dust. Inside this hard crust, they are soft and tasty. They are mouth watering when hot, but unfortunately we only received them hot for sahur during Ramadan.
The ration for every prisoner is 6 kudam, which works out as 2 for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and 2 for dinner, but you get them all before breakfast.
There is a traditional way of eating kudam that is unfortunately dying just like all other wonderful customs. The traditional way of ‘breaking in’ to kudam is that you hold one kudma in each hand and then slam them together as hard as you can. This takes care of breaking loose all the foreign particles and flour that is hanging on to the surface. It also breaks the crust. This tradition is mostly lost among the prisoners, who may not have had enough exposure to kudam before incarceration, but I used to see the prison wardens always do it.