内容摘要：This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health.

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health.

Artisanal: Bread has benefited from a general move toward traditional and handcrafted lifestyle products. A crusty loaf made of minimal ingredients is a thing of beauty and flavor. There’s a growing awareness of, alternative flours and natural ingredients. “People want to know where their bread comes from, and that someone crafted it,” says Craig Norton, operations director for the Prince George Hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s gotten easier for those with dietary restrictions like gluten sensitivity to find alternatives that meet their needs.

Community and Creativity: Norton notes the popularity and availability of bread forms used around the world. “People are more open to naan, pita, tortillas, brioche, boules, baguettes and pretzel buns,” he says. Or scroll through social media for breadmaking creatives. Coloring the dough for a rainbow-hued loaf. Etching a pattern into the top before baking. Forming dough into flowers and bow ties.Chandra Ram, Food & Wine magazine’s associate editorial director, likes to make pull-apart breads when people come over.“They stand out, but it isn’t a three-day time commitment,” she says. “Pull-apart breads give you lots of flavor flexibility. You can use herbs, sprinkle in chopped greens or cheese, and you can make sweet versions for brunch or dessert. They’re fun and interactive.”

She suggests making a tastyto accompany your pull-apart bread.

“Just mix some grated lemon zest and chopped herbs into softened butter, freeze, and take it out when you’re ready to serve,” she says.

Norton also sees bread fusions: loaves stuffed with creamy cooked chicken, or roasted vegetables. Plump fluffy loaves brimming with melty gruyere. Soft French bread full of an oniony spinach-feta mixture. And for game day, maybe chili-stuffed bread balls, or a pan of spicy Buffalo chicken flavored bread bites.For more on Africa and development:

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MATHARE, Kenya (AP) — Joseph Kariaga and his friends once lived the “gangster life” in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, snatching phones, mugging people and battling police. But when Kariaga’s brother was shot dead by police, the young men took stock.“We said, ‘We cannot live like this. We are going to lose our lives.’ Many of our friends had died,” said Kariaga, now 27. “I reflected on my life. I had to change.”