Sliced bread facts for kids
A loaf of brown bread sliced to uniform thickness by a bread slicing machine
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Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been cut into even slices by a machine. It is then packaged for you to buy. This makes it much easier than cutting the bread yourself with a knife.
The first sliced bread was sold in 1928. It was advertised as a huge step forward in baking. By 1933, about 80% of bread sold in the United States was already sliced. This led to the famous saying, "greatest thing since sliced bread". People use this phrase to describe something amazing and new.
Contents
The Story of Sliced Bread
How Sliced Bread Was Invented
A man named Otto Frederick Rohwedder from Davenport, Iowa, invented the first machine to slice a single loaf of bread. He built an early version in 1912, but it was destroyed in a fire. It took him until 1928 to create a fully working machine.
The first time this machine was used for business was at the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri. They sold their first slices on July 7, 1928. Their product was called "Kleen Maid Sliced Bread", and it was a big hit! Some people in Battle Creek, Michigan, also claim to have sold the first machine-sliced bread. However, there are no official papers to prove their claim.
A baker from St. Louis named Gustav Papendick bought Rohwedder's second bread slicer. He wanted to make it even better. He found a way to keep the slices together long enough to be wrapped. After trying rubber bands and metal pins, he decided to put the slices into a cardboard tray. This tray held the slices in line, so machines could wrap the loaves easily.
W.E. Long helped make sliced bread popular. He worked with the Holsum Bread brand, which was used by many bakeries. In 1930, Wonder Bread, a brand that started in 1925, began selling sliced bread all over the country. In the United Kingdom, the first slicing machine was put in a bakery in London in 1937. By the 1950s, about 80% of bread sold in Britain was already sliced.
Why Sliced Bread Became Popular
Sliced bread made eating bread much easier. Since the slices were all the same size and a bit thinner, people often ate more slices at a time. They also ate bread more often because it was so simple to grab a piece. This meant people also used more spreads, like jam, to put on their bread.
The Time Sliced Bread Was Banned
In 1943, during World War II, officials in the United States put a temporary ban on sliced bread. This was part of an effort to save resources for the war. The ban started on January 18, 1943.
Officials said that sliced bread needed more wrapping than a whole loaf to keep it from drying out. They also hoped it would help control the price of bread, which had gone up.
Many people were not happy about the ban. On January 24, New York City Mayor LaGuardia suggested that bakeries with their own slicing machines should still be allowed to use them. A few days later, a letter from a upset housewife appeared in The New York Times. She wrote about how important sliced bread was to her busy family. She had to cut 22 slices of bread by hand every morning for toast and sandwiches!
On March 8, 1943, the ban was removed. Many believe it was because of the public's strong reaction. However, officials stated that the savings from the ban were not as much as they expected. They also said there was enough wax paper to wrap sliced bread.
Sliced Bread Around the World
Sliced bread is popular everywhere because it is so handy. The usual thickness of slices can be different depending on the company and the country:
- In the United Kingdom, you can buy sliced bread as "Extra Thick", "Thick", "Medium", or "Thin". These slices can range from 5 to 20 millimeters.
- In the Republic of Ireland, the most popular type of bread is called "sliced pan". It comes in 800- or 400-gram loaves. The slices are just the right size for making sandwiches and toast.
- In Japan, a half-loaf of bread is often labeled by how many slices it has (like 4 or 6 slices). A higher number means thinner slices. You rarely see whole loaves of bread sold there.
- In Canada and the United States, Texas toast is a type of packaged bread. Its slices are twice as thick as regular bread slices.
- In Australia, most sliced bread is about 18mm thick, which is called "toast" thickness. But 12–13mm slices, known as "sandwich" thickness, are also common.
"The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread"
The saying "the greatest thing since sliced bread" is a very common idiom. It is used to praise a new invention or idea. A writer for The Kansas City Star said that this phrase shows the best of new ideas and American cleverness.
In 1933, an advertisement for bread that had both thick and thin slices in the same loaf called it "the first improvement since sliced bread". In 1940, a package of bread with two wrapped half-loaves was advertised as the "greatest convenience since sliced bread".
