Happy Birthday, Sliced Bread!
Saluting a big bread moment
Dear Bread Fans,
Today is a big day for food. Happy 95th to sliced bread!
July 7th, 1928 is when pre-sliced bread was born as a product. As I wrote earlier, Otto Rohwedder worked on his invention—on and off—for 16 years, and this is the day that his friend’s bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri, first sold sliced bread. By 1943, this “merchandising development” – as industry insiders dubbed its dubious arrival – was so normal that a WWII-related ban on sliced bread caused an uproar. Eating habits had by then, wrapped themselves around this necessity, and women – the only American creature who could/can provision from a store – demanded the ridiculous ban end. The outcry worked and was quickly rescinded.
Sliced bread is now shorthand for the butt end joke of a food – along with its kissing cousin white bread – for the commonplace, or low-quality food, and the wrongs of the entire American food system.
By the time I was growing up in the 70s, the phrase “best thing since sliced bread,” was too ubiquitous to question. As I was growing into my food self in the 90s and into a mother in the 2000s, I gave sliced bread the hairy eyeball. Directly and indirectly, I had learned that packaged food was nutritionally deficient, but more significantly/subliminally, it was morally questionable. Said moralizing deserves a lot more words, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain wrote many of them in the fabulous White Bread: A Social History of the Store Bought Loaf. I’m writing many more in my book, but for now, I’ll say that this gathering idea storm about food had at least a few causes:
a rash of crises linked to food-borne illness — especially E coli outbreaks in fresh produce & meat
a rising awareness of agribusiness and the chemicals involved in farming and food manufacturing
an explosion of interest in cooking — or at least in cooking shows & chefs
the popularity of food gardening and farmers’ markets.
These combined to polarize thinking about food. Food became either bad or good – or maybe it always was! Food is a powerful indicator of status, or lack thereof as judged/determined by whom about whomever, and that’s not new. Yet the venom about diet and nutrition in America is intense, and sliced bread is an easy trash bin for all our food sins.
But how was this maligned staple initially received? I’ve been studying trade journals at the Cornell University Library to see. While sliced bread began 95 years ago today, I didn’t find mention of it in The Northwestern Miller and American Baker until a year later.
An August 1929 column aggregated opinions from bakers around the country. Some thought that it was here to stay, others named it a fad, and everyone who tried it said they weren’t earning enough from providing the extra service. The following month, it was the prime topic at a meeting of the American Bakers Association in Chicago.
“Interest in a new merchandising development – not only new, but the most important in many years – had the power to draw bakers from all sections of the United States to the 32nd annual convention of the American Bakers’ Association at the Stevens Hotel, Chicago, September 23-26. The development was sliced bread. In the lobby of the gigantic Stevens Hotel, in the rooms, even on the streets when bakers met each other, the conversation was apt to turn to a discussion of this topic.”1
Bakers who used the machinery that sliced wanted to compare notes, and those who hadn't yet purchased the equipment were eager to hear about it. They had plenty of opportunities in the formal programming and casual intersections. A full day’s talks were dedicated to the process, from “Building A Loaf to Slice,” to managing production costs and the bread going stale, synching packaging and slicing machines, and general maintenance and use. Sliced bread was a popular concept but a significant investment, not just monetarily, but in shelf space at bakeries, and labor & anticipated repairs.
This convention was held a month before the stock market crashed. Reports from regional meetings that autumn noted that bakers felt the technology was here to stay, and the economic climate didn’t seem to halt adoption; most of the histories of sliced bread I’ve read said that it was soon a norm. The popularity of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is traced to the Great Depression, and the availability of slicing technology, as well as late 1920s advances in peanut butter making machines – proved that our tastes are often set by our surroundings.
In honor of this momentous food’s birthday, here are some of my major sandwich moments.
I am built from cream cheese with grape jelly, liverwurst and cheddar, and baloney sandwiches I made on the best ever sandwich bread, Freihofer’s Canadian Oat.
My older sister put mustard on my sandwich one day because we were ridiculously mean to each other, and she knew I hated it.
a. I don’t remember which sandwich she put it on.
b. I didn’t eat it.
c. I did whine to our parents.
d. They told us to work it out on our own.
e. I have done far worse things to my little sister and little brother.
f. My favorite lunchbox was a white vinyl Peanuts lunch box. The thermos only left the family orbit when the house sold a couple of years ago. I can still feel myself opening it up, pouring milk into its cap cup. Carrying it felt fancy, because milk was just a nickel.
g. Today is also my older sister’s birthday! When we had kids 25 years ago we became friends. Happy birthday Pegeen!
My husband, sons and I really love an Italian mixed sub, and it’s our go-to road food.
My father loved turkey sandwiches: turkey clubs, hot turkey sandwiches with cranberry on the side, and cold turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry mayo anytime of the year.
Will you please share one of your sandwich moments, whether it features sliced bread or not? I’d love to hear what you’ve got!
Happy sandwiching to all!
Amy
Extra Servings:
Please read White Bread by Aaron Bobrow-Strain. No one has captured more about the social attitudes toward bread in America!
Check out Jason Diamond’s fabulous read, Kevin Kline's Great American Sandwich
Have you ever made an ice cream sandwich with bread instead of cookies?
Beatty, Robert et al. “Sliced Bread the Dominant Topic at Bakers’ Meeting in Chicago.” 1929. Northwestern Miller and American Baker, Volume 159, p 1112.
Image credit: Picture taken by Amy Halloran while researching at Cornell University Library, from an unnumbered page in Northwestern Miller and American Baker, volume 161, 1930, Minneapolis, Miller Pub. Co., etc..
Growing up: White bread, miracle whip, bologna, and a slice of Velveeta
I think there still can be a role for sliced bread in a nutrition forward, naturally leavened bread setting for the sake of accessibility! Mark Dyck was discussing recently on his podcast (Rise up!) that back when he owned a bakery, he made the decision to purchase a bread slicer because he got feedback from the local food bank that he donated to that the people who received bread didn’t have bread knives and had trouble utilizing the loaves. I mostly make my own bread these days but whether I make or buy, my family doesn’t go through bread fast enough to keep it out at room temp, so I slice it up and freeze in airtight container and just defrost and toast as needed. Slicing bread by hand for artisan style loaves is sometimes really challenging to get thinner slices; I’ve low key wished I had a bread slicer (even those deli slicer or vintage ones that have the blade that you pull down like a paper cutter) at home too!
My favorite sandwiches from dining establishments are from the great state of Pennsylvania: the pork sandwich from DiNic’s at Reading Terminal in Philly, and the Primanti Bros sandwich in Pittsburgh. The pork sandwich is composed of thin sliced roast pork, and perfectly balanced with some bitter broccoli rabe and maybe some sautéed peppers, all stuffed in a long hoagie/sub roll. It’s balanced, savory and juicy. The Primanti’s sandwich has protein of choice (I’m partial to the fried fish fillet, but cheesesteak and Italian deli meats of various sorts are popular too), tomato, vinegar-based coleslaw, and a big handful of fresh cut and fried French fries, on sliced white Italian bread. It’s hot from the fish/cold from the coleslaw and tomato, soft from the bread and fries/crunchy from the fish crust and coleslaw, salty/vinegary, and just all in all a balanced and over the top and delicious sandwich (that I can only ever eat half of due to its massive size). Also love a good egg and cheese and tomato bagel sandwich, preferably on an everything bagel.
At home, to be honest, I’m not much of a sandwich person. When I was a young adult, I’d pack peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwiches for lunch sometimes. Nowadays that I make my own bread, most of it goes to my daughter’s lunches, and she just loves open faced buttered toast! I also mostly make open faced sandwiches/toast with toppings, with avocado mash, butter and marmalade, ricotta with either salt and pepper or honey and cinnamon.
Thanks for your always educational and informative writing! Always learn something interesting!