• QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Starting January 18, 1943—the midst of World War II—sliced bread was barred from American bakeries and homes. New baking regulations set by the Office of Price Administration had boosted flour prices, and the government wanted to prevent these costs from getting passed down to the consumer. By banning the use of expensive bread-slicing machines, the government was hoping bakeries could keep their prices low. Officials were also worried about the country’s supply of wax paper—and sliced bread required twice as much paraffin wrapping as an unsliced loaf. (It prevented the slices from drying prematurely.)

      • Dojan@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Wax paper is great! What I think is so funny about this is that to me wax paper feels more premium. I guess it’s because it’s because plastic is so ubiquitous that despite being an incredible and versatile material, it’s also ridiculously mundane.

      • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        22 days ago

        Your local neighborhood bakery almost certainly still uses wax paper instead of bags. I don’t eat much bread these days, but when I do I always just walk down to the bakery and pick out a loaf. It’s a million times better than the sugary stuff full of preservatives at the grocery store.

        • Dave@lemmy.nz
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          22 days ago

          Would it be actual wax paper? These days it could just as likely be coated with plastic rather than wax, as the plastic coatings do the same thing and are cheaper.

          I’ve just spent a while searching and can’t find any reliable way to tell whether paper is wax coated, oil coated, plastic coated, or silicone coated.

        • CM400@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          I wish I had a local bakery like that. We have a few pastry shops, but unsweet bread is harder to come by.

        • howrar@lemmy.ca
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          18 days ago

          My local bakeries use paper bags. But they also don’t sell sliced bread.

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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        12 days ago

        Wax paper isn’t recyclable and putting paraffin in landfills isn’t great. Regular brown paper in a freshly made local bakery is quite fine, though.

    • Stamau123@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      So if your bakery already had the bread slicing machine then you were still good? Except not being allowed to use wax paper of course.

    • darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      22 days ago

      By banning the use of expensive bread-slicing machines,

      So they didn’t actually try banning sliced bread.

  • athos77@kbin.social
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    22 days ago

    In the UK, bakers were forbidden from selling bread on the day it was baked, in order to make it more stale and reduce demand.

      • athos77@kbin.social
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        22 days ago

        Sadly, no:

        Bakers, bakeries and bakers shops were required by law only to sell their ‘national loaves’ when they were a day old because stale bread did not cut to waste like fresh bread. Source

        [If you can find it, the BBC Timeshift episode ‘Bread: A Loaf Affair’ mentions this along with a surprisingly interesting modern-ish history of bread in the UK. It’s narrated by Tom Baker.]

            • can@sh.itjust.works
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              20 days ago

              Bing AI gave me this: "The phrase “did not cut to waste” in the context of bread rationing during wartime refers to the idea that stale bread, being firmer and less crumbly than fresh bread, could be sliced more thinly and evenly without falling apart or producing excess crumbs. "

          • nelly_man@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means to cut in a wasteful manner, particularly in terms of fabric. From elsewhere, it looks like it’s also used in construction in regards to cutting material such that the remaining sections are not usable for other purposes.

            However, I’m not sure how stale bread discourages such cuts.

            • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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              20 days ago

              Fresh bread tastes amazing. You overconsume by eating it by itself.

              Stale bread tastes… stale. You actually cut thin slices so you can top it with stuff that masks it.

        • can@sh.itjust.works
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          21 days ago

          I see where he got his sense of humour at least. I’ll try to find that, thanks.