1y ago

TIL the US government once banned sliced bread

www.mentalfloss.com

The Time the U.S. Government Banned Sliced Bread

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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.)
- I would love to see a return of wax paper instead of plastic bags.
  
  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.
  
  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.
  
  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.
- Did it work?
  
  No. Homemakers objected, exceptions were passed, and then the ban was rescinded about a month later.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread#1943_U.S._ban
- 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.
- By banning the use of expensive bread-slicing machines,
  So they didn't actually try banning sliced bread.
I learnt from xkcd :-)
- Haha same. I didn't believe it and found the article
- Snakes are wide instead of long lol imagine
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.
- "During WW1" is the context for this
  
  And WWII.
- Is this a Douglas Adams bit?
  
  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.]
Sliced bread, humanity’s downfall
- Thank you! Learned something.
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  Sliced bread, humanity’s downfall
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