The Invention of Sliced Bread • Hacker News Board

Re: The Invention of Sliced Bread

#31

Post by Gmo » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 2:59 PM UTC

Gmo wrote: post #22

tinco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dutch-near-German-border here. I think your opinion stems from the quality of industrial bread in France. If you look in the Netherlands you'll find a wide variety of very tasty pre-sliced industrial bread, always fresh baked in the morning. That being said, I always buy unsliced artisan German bread from my local baker who imports it from across the border. And for fun, let's fan the flames a bit. You can't compare…

As a Frenchman who has lived 7 years in France, I can't agree with you. Is the Dutch industrial sliced-bread better than the French sliced-bread ? Yeah, mostly because it's "freshly" baked every morning. But it is still industrial bread, which can't be beaten by bread fresh from the bakery. As for german bread, they do have a wide variety, I give you that, but once again, it's more and more industrial. My parents in…

I meant "who has lived 7 years in the Netherlands" of course.

Re: The Invention of Sliced Bread

#32

Post by bane » Fri, Nov 14, 2014, 1:37 AM UTC

I'm old enough to remember buying your basic sandwich bread at the grocery store and taking it to the bread slicing machine. I guess the idea was that it would keep the bread better until slicing it, after which it would quickly be turned into all the lunch sandwiches for 3 or 4 kids for the week. I think the presliced bread cost a little more since it had shorter shelf-life or something.

These days, even my local grocery sells fantastic artisinal breads. Which you can either keep in the loaf and cut at home, or take it to a similar machine and have it pre-sliced for you. You can of course get the old basic sandwich bread in cheap loaves...$2-$3. But even the "fancy" breads are usually under $4 a loaf.

Re: The Invention of Sliced Bread

#33

Post by bane » Fri, Nov 14, 2014, 1:39 AM UTC

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #17

camillomiller wrote: post #9

Just to add some perspective from the outside world (I.e. Not America). In Italy sliced bread never really took over common bread. Yes we make toasts, and yes, we have sliced bread, but that's usually some industrial, over-processed bread loaf that you'll never find fresh at a bakery. Here in Germany, were I live now, it's a mix. Common bread everywhere, but you can slice your own loaf at the supermarket with a terri…

Yeah, in Spain sliced bread is not very popular either. Some people use it for breakfast toast. And it is used to make sandwiches. Curiously, we use the word "sandwich" for a sandwich made with sliced bread, and the Spanish word "bocadillo" for a sandwich made with traditional bread. Bocadillos are widely considered superior, with sandwiches used for a cheaper, quick snack, or for easier portability. No one would mak…

I was introduced to the glorious bocadillo a few years ago on a couple visits to Barcelona. I've been trying to replicate a certain ham/cheese version of it here in the U.S. since then. It seems so simple and basic in Spain, where the ham and cheeses are unbelievably good, but here in the U.S. they're just different enough that you can't quite do it.

Not to mention getting the right kind/shape of bread is impossible.