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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAround 1920 most bread was made in people\u2019s kitchens \u2014 at home. But by about 1930, the majority of Americans were eating commercially made bread. Those factory produced loaves were designed to be softer than those made at home, because the bread-buying public had come to equate \u201csqueezable softness\u201d with freshness.
So the timing seemed right for an automatic bread slicing machine \u2014 the \u201csofter\u201d loaves had become almost impossible to slice neatly at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first automatically sliced commercial loaves were produced in Chillicothe, Missouri. The machine was invented by Otto Rohwedder \u2014 an Iowa-born jeweler that lived in Chillicothe. His bread slicer was put into service at his friend Frank Bench\u2019s Chillicothe Baking Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rohwedder\u2019s contraption received a warm welcome in Missouri \u2014 the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune<\/em> ran an article that noted while some people might find sliced bread \u201cstartling,\u201d the typical housewife could expect a thrill of pleasure when she first sees a loaf of this bread with each slice the exact counterpart of its fellows. So neat and precise are the slices, and so definitely better than anyone could possible slice by hand with a bread knife that one realizes instantly that here is a refinement that will receive a hearty and permanent welcome.\u00a0 Sliced bread didn\u2019t take long to become a hit around the United States, even though some bakers claimed it was just a fad. A note of interest\u2026. during World War II, factory-sliced bread, including Wonder, was briefly banned by the U.S. Government in an effort to conserve resources, such as the paper used to wrap each loaf to help maintain freshness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve all said, or heard someone say, \u201cthe best thing since slice bread.\u201d I guess now would be a good time to explore the origin of that \u2026. Yesterday we talked about the \u201cinvention\u201d of the sandwich. What could make the sandwich even better? Sliced bread, of course. \u00a0Bread has been being baked in some form for maybe 30,000 years \u2014 but sliced bread has only been around … Continue reading
The article also recounted that \u201cconsiderable research\u201d had gone into determining the right thickness for each slice\u2014 slightly less than half an inch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the first major brands to distribute sliced bread was Wonder \u2014 it originally appeared in stores in Indianapolis, where it was manufactured by the Taggart Baking Company. (An executive for the company dreamed up the bread\u2019s name after being “filled with wonder” while watching the International Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Speedway.) The Taggart Company was bought by the Continental Baking Company who sold Wonder bread nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chillicothe Baking Company, when advertising it\u2019s sliced bread included the sentence: \u201cThe greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.\u201d Subsequent advertising in the baking industry compared their developments to the \u201cinvention\u201d of sliced bread.
But some sources say the first use of the idiom was in 1952 when Red Skelton said in an interview, \u201cDon\u2019t worry about television. It\u2019s the greatest thing since sliced bread.\u201d
Anyhow, if you use that phrase today, you\u2019re probably dating yourself\u2026..
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"