Mirzet

Mirzet b ___ Prijedor. Interview by Adela.

Adela Sajdel Cerić: So, we’re continuing with this interview. Mirzet Beširević will tell us how he made a coffee grinder.

Mirzet Beširević: Well, um, you have to have the material. And the material is stainless steel.

Ana Croegaert: Where did he get it?

ASC: Where did you find that material?

MB: Well, we had pipes at the factory, pipes that had to be only stainless steel because that acid, that acid liquid was running through them and corrodes. And you used the machine for that, you used the machine, the machine for everything, and inside, those grindstones, that, the main machine that grinds, that had to be done manually. Using files, we call them files, there you go. I mean, to sharpen it. And the rest you use machines to work on it, to polish it off, and this pattern, you also use the machine to…

ASC: Design.

MB: Yep, yep, yep, yep, and so. The machine goes over…

ASC: And why did you make that pattern? To make it look better, or so you can grip it more easily, what was the reason?

MB: Well, it looks better with the pattern. Since we didn’t create the patterns by hand, did we, that’s all machine-made, and then when you create the pattern, some did it a bit differently, but these are the most gentle somehow. Then you polish it off, and so, um, it looks better, but it’s also easier to hold, so it doesn’t slip in your palm.

ASC: And did you bring this grinder over here from Bosnia?

MB: Well, I made my sister one, and another one for her mother-in-law. And when we came here, she asks, “Do you have any kind of a grinder?” And I say, “I made one for everyone, but I don’t have a single one.” “Well, I’ll give you one.” “Why would you give it to me?” She says, “Well, I have two.” Her mother-in-law died and left her… And then she gave me…

ASC: …your grinder.

MB: She sent me a grinder. She sent it to me from Sarajevo when…. But it traveled from Prijedor to Sarajevo…

ASC: …and found you in Chicago.

MB: It spent time, spent time in Hercegovina, spent time in Sarajevo and arrived in Chicago.

AC: Did he have to do this by hand or could he have used it, was it…

MB: This can be made only by hand. This.

ASC: What’s the word for that, is that a handle?

MB: Spinning handle. Turning handle, spinning.

[inaudible] And the grindstone, inside?

MB: These are, these are those. These are those, you put the beans in here. Here is a bridge, you made it by hand, this is hand-made, and, um, this holds it so you can grind even without this one, and then it fell apart. And down here this is also, this is also hand-made, all of it, this bridge and this, and here you tighten it so that it’s finer.

AC: So did he have a book?

ASC: How did you know how to make it, did you have a book, or how did you know how to make it all, create that design and…?

MB: Well, there were folks who used to make those grinders before I was born. So we copied each other. I gave her a grinder that was made in ‘21, we knew who made it, this, this silver one and this one. Silver, but they rolled metal sheets, and then weighed it, and then created the pattern by hand, designed it by hand, this is the same, she just doesn’t use this grinder, it takes longer to grind.

ASC: And did you study those grinders that you had at home in order to make a new one?

MB: But everyone was making them, so I started too, so I even, a bit, I became specialized a bit maybe, maybe my grinders were a bit better than others’. So I’d make one for the others, and the others made one for me.

ASC: And how many do you think you’ve made in your life?

MB: Oh, wow, I don’t know. But it wasn’t, it was all in my free time. Maybe about twenty.

ASC: That’s a lot, a lot.

MB: No, more than twenty. One or two for everyone, I had one and I couldn’t bring it here. I had to leave it behind over there. So, there it is. Women gather outside the house, sit down, and grind. And we spread something on the grass and sit down and wait. Children get together, and that was my daughter-in-law. She was the best at it. She gathers the children around her and says, “Let’s drink coffee.” And I say, “I don’t wat the kids around.” “You do!” Here, like that. Then some light their cigarettes, in our village women didn’t smoke. But when it’s coffee time, each one had matches and cigarettes and they’d smoke while drinking coffee. But it wasn’t, it was once, twice, three times a day for some, like, um, those, smaller ones, those smaller little coffee cups, you can have two-tree of those, those cups were small, and now the cups are largers so one is enough, and tw… one, a little bit, so, um, there.

ASC: Okay, thanks for the story, so we can learn a bit about grinders.

MB: Aaaah, yes, yes.

AC: Did he make it for Tidža or did he make it before Tidža?

ASC: Did you ever use to make grinders before you got married?

MB: Oh, oh I did, I did. I used to make grinders, and I wasn’t even a coffee drinker. Um, I wasn’t, I didn’t drink anything, no alcoholic drinks, no coffee, I didn’t drink any of that.

MB: Um, but, when we had… When children started school, they opened a café in our company, you know. And so, I have a half-an-hour breakfast break, and later another half-an hour, I have a cup of tea, then I even have a cup of coffee, so when they come looking for me, she, she was a neighbor of ours, the one that roasted coffee, she’s make, she’d bring me a cup of coffee already made. And they, they’re looking for me, yelling at me to go work, and she curses them and say: “He just came, for coffee. Who’ll pay for this coffee?” She says, “No one will. You just, just sit here.”

ASC: Do you have more questions?

AC: Do you?

ASC: No, I think he gave a good presentation of everything that he has done.

AC: Thanks, Mirza.

MB: You’re welcome.

(background): She can speak Bosnian?

AC: Ah, no, no

(background): No, no?

AC: So-so. Tako-tako

(background): So-so, okay, very good!