Following on the last topic of sliced bread – did you know that in January 1943 sliced bread was banned from American bakeries?
In 1943 the war was in full flight and the War Foods Administration and the Secretary of Agriculture thought that banning pre-sliced would be a good way to conserve resources – specifically:
- wax paper – sliced bread required much thicker wax paper as unsliced
- wheat
- steel – used in the production of the sliced bread machines
This ban was very unpopular and by early March of the same year it had been rescinded. The reason given when the ban was rescinded was that it did not give the resource savings expected – that sounded far better that acknowledging it was very unpopular!
Here are two great articles about the ban if you want to find out more:
Your homework for today is to ponder on what would you do if sliced bread was not available – would it be a big deal or make no difference at all?
Ponder away!
