6 ms·

The Invention of Sliced Bread

whoopdedo 12y ago
First, that is one of the sloppiest colorized photos I've ever seen. Now on to the article. Though I had heard bits and pieces of lore behind the invention, this is the first complete history. I'm surprise that he went about building the large-scale automated machine first, rather than evolving it from simpler devices. That the development was delayed and almost lost for good serves as a warning more than his success is an inspiration, I think. But he was persistent which I suppose is the single most important quality an innovator can have. Not to mention a sense of humor. "Mac-Roh Sales & Manufacturing". And then he ended up selling his business to "Micro-Westco". I once asked my grand-father "What was the best thing before sliced bread?" Without hesitation he said, "Indoor plumbing."
- mmastrac 12y ago
  According to the article the best thing before "sliced bread" was "wrapped bread".
  - hudibras 12y ago
    It's bread all the way down.
- gumby 12y ago
  > I'm surprise that he went about building the > large-scale automated machine first, rather > than evolving it from simpler devices. Yeah, he never heard of doing the MVP first!
- orjan 12y ago
  About the photo: I think it looks fairly representative of a colorized photo of that time. Note that this is not a photoshop job - it was colorized in 1920, probably by the photographer.
  - bane 12y ago
    I agree, my grandmother has boxes full of photos that look like this. Here's another example https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465911523921633003/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465911523921633003/
thomasjudge 12y ago
Here's a parallel read, also interesting http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/good-bread/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/good-bread/
camillomiller 12y ago
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 terrific automated spring-loaded circular saw machine that's very cool to operate. I just want to point out that "the best thing since sliced bread" is a sentence culturally linked to the U.S. conception of bread. I point that out because I had conversation with American friends in the past who were surprised by the non-universality of this sentence (as often happens with other cultural references).
- pmontra 12y ago
  Well, it's the different form factor. Soft and brick-sized bread doesn't belong to the Italian tradition. Slicing what we have it's not that difficult and in most cases there is no need to slice anything. We just break it with bare hands and have it. North Americans can check these pictures to get an idea https://www.google.com/search?q=pane&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=pane&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=i... Even the form factors that require slicing are quite small and not particularly soft. Slicing them is quick and easy.
- aikah 12y ago
  French here, sliced bread is like "the worst thing ever".And dont get me started on industrial bread.If your bread isnt like less than 30 min fresh,hot from the oven, you shouldnt eat it.And by the way,we call sliced bread "english bread".
  - kgabis 12y ago
    Depends on what kind of bread you're talking about. A good sourdough will last a week and still taste great.
  - tinco 12y ago
    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 the simple french baguette to the rich flavour of artisan German bread, simply no contest ;)
unwind 12y ago
Interesting to see the early wrapper for Wonder Bread, where it's quite clearly labelled as "Wonder-Cut Bread". Obviously the "-Cut" became superfluous and was dropped over time.
brc 12y ago
I've become a convert to home baking with a bread machine, and the loss of easy slicing is one if the biggest downsides. The purchase of a slicing guide and electric knife has offset this somewhat, but it's still easy to get wrong. What I'd like is a compact home bread slicing machine.
- netcan 12y ago
  You might consider just getting a nice long, sharp bread knife. There's something fun about a great knife.
  - obviouslygreen 12y ago
    Absolutely agreed on the great knife bit. As for the bread... I think ditching the expectation of perfectly even slices is a good start. Cut a piece and cut it in half; there, half a sandwich (assuming your bread maker spits out loaves with a square cross section). Want another half? It may not be the same thickness as the first one, but as long as you're a little bit careful, your pieces should at least be consistent with themselves, so there you go.
trumbitta2 12y ago
"Trusting the great potential in his hypothetical invention, he immediately set out to conduct some market research. He put together a brief questionnaire “for the purpose of determining a thickness of slice which would be most nearly universal in acceptance,” and placed it as an ad in several large newspapers. Over the course of a few months, he managed to cull responses from 30,000 housewives. Armed with this knowledge, he embarked on a long, painful journey to bring his invention to life." Talk about validating your idea! I found it amazing this guy was doing what we recently discovered, back in early 1900's
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
Htsthbjig 12y ago
As someone being born in Spain, form me sliced bread means: "The worse thing ever". An industrialized type of food that also requires to use the kind of ugly plastic that ends in the stomachs of turtles, dolphins and whales. Now the crustless bread is even worse as they need lost of additives for it to stay fresh. In China and Japan good bread was in the top list of things I missed, so I bought my own bread machine. But getting good flour was not easy. In the US I could get it but it was expensive. People from China, Japan or the US loved to come over my house to eat. Most of them have not tasted good bread ever, but they believe they do because of sliced bread.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
jimfuller2014 12y ago
related to me by a drunk baker some evening many moons ago - 'sliced bread has more surface area, so goes stale faster; companies loved it because their bean counters found out that people ended up buying more bread for the perceived convenience. By the time they started crazy additives for longer life, people were convinced that sliced bread is better. Throughout, people were eating less and less bread ... as a slice with your meal so its usage has changed quite a bit as well.' As the evening wore on, he probably had a point, but I missed it. Now I do not know the veracity of the above ... what is clear to me is that (like many things in the western world) bread is no longer bread (that strange sliced white loaf is probably full of sugar, etc) ... having lived in countries for 20 years where I slice my bread I've not noticed the incredibly time consuming act of slicing bread.
bane 12y ago
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.

First, that is one of the sloppiest colorized photos I've ever seen. Now on to the article. Though I had heard bits and pieces of lore behind the invention, this is the first complete history. I'm surprise that he went about building the large-scale automated machine first, rather than evolving it from simpler devices. That the development was delayed and almost lost for good serves as a warning more than his success is an inspiration, I think. But he was persistent which I suppose is the single most important quality an innovator can have. Not to mention a sense of humor. "Mac-Roh Sales & Manufacturing". And then he ended up selling his business to "Micro-Westco". I once asked my grand-father "What was the best thing before sliced bread?" Without hesitation he said, "Indoor plumbing."

mmastrac 12y ago
According to the article the best thing before "sliced bread" was "wrapped bread".
- hudibras 12y ago
  It's bread all the way down.
gumby 12y ago
> I'm surprise that he went about building the > large-scale automated machine first, rather > than evolving it from simpler devices. Yeah, he never heard of doing the MVP first!
orjan 12y ago
About the photo: I think it looks fairly representative of a colorized photo of that time. Note that this is not a photoshop job - it was colorized in 1920, probably by the photographer.
- bane 12y ago
  I agree, my grandmother has boxes full of photos that look like this. Here's another example https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465911523921633003/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465911523921633003/

thomasjudge 12y ago

Here's a parallel read, also interesting http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/good-bread/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/good-bread/

camillomiller 12y ago

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 terrific automated spring-loaded circular saw machine that's very cool to operate. I just want to point out that "the best thing since sliced bread" is a sentence culturally linked to the U.S. conception of bread. I point that out because I had conversation with American friends in the past who were surprised by the non-universality of this sentence (as often happens with other cultural references).

pmontra 12y ago
Well, it's the different form factor. Soft and brick-sized bread doesn't belong to the Italian tradition. Slicing what we have it's not that difficult and in most cases there is no need to slice anything. We just break it with bare hands and have it. North Americans can check these pictures to get an idea https://www.google.com/search?q=pane&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=pane&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=i... Even the form factors that require slicing are quite small and not particularly soft. Slicing them is quick and easy.
aikah 12y ago
French here, sliced bread is like "the worst thing ever".And dont get me started on industrial bread.If your bread isnt like less than 30 min fresh,hot from the oven, you shouldnt eat it.And by the way,we call sliced bread "english bread".
- kgabis 12y ago
  Depends on what kind of bread you're talking about. A good sourdough will last a week and still taste great.
- tinco 12y ago
  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 the simple french baguette to the rich flavour of artisan German bread, simply no contest ;)

unwind 12y ago

Interesting to see the early wrapper for Wonder Bread, where it's quite clearly labelled as "Wonder-Cut Bread". Obviously the "-Cut" became superfluous and was dropped over time.

brc 12y ago

I've become a convert to home baking with a bread machine, and the loss of easy slicing is one if the biggest downsides. The purchase of a slicing guide and electric knife has offset this somewhat, but it's still easy to get wrong. What I'd like is a compact home bread slicing machine.

netcan 12y ago
You might consider just getting a nice long, sharp bread knife. There's something fun about a great knife.
- obviouslygreen 12y ago
  Absolutely agreed on the great knife bit. As for the bread... I think ditching the expectation of perfectly even slices is a good start. Cut a piece and cut it in half; there, half a sandwich (assuming your bread maker spits out loaves with a square cross section). Want another half? It may not be the same thickness as the first one, but as long as you're a little bit careful, your pieces should at least be consistent with themselves, so there you go.

trumbitta2 12y ago

"Trusting the great potential in his hypothetical invention, he immediately set out to conduct some market research. He put together a brief questionnaire “for the purpose of determining a thickness of slice which would be most nearly universal in acceptance,” and placed it as an ad in several large newspapers. Over the course of a few months, he managed to cull responses from 30,000 housewives. Armed with this knowledge, he embarked on a long, painful journey to bring his invention to life." Talk about validating your idea! I found it amazing this guy was doing what we recently discovered, back in early 1900's

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

Htsthbjig 12y ago

As someone being born in Spain, form me sliced bread means: "The worse thing ever". An industrialized type of food that also requires to use the kind of ugly plastic that ends in the stomachs of turtles, dolphins and whales. Now the crustless bread is even worse as they need lost of additives for it to stay fresh. In China and Japan good bread was in the top list of things I missed, so I bought my own bread machine. But getting good flour was not easy. In the US I could get it but it was expensive. People from China, Japan or the US loved to come over my house to eat. Most of them have not tasted good bread ever, but they believe they do because of sliced bread.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

jimfuller2014 12y ago

related to me by a drunk baker some evening many moons ago - 'sliced bread has more surface area, so goes stale faster; companies loved it because their bean counters found out that people ended up buying more bread for the perceived convenience. By the time they started crazy additives for longer life, people were convinced that sliced bread is better. Throughout, people were eating less and less bread ... as a slice with your meal so its usage has changed quite a bit as well.' As the evening wore on, he probably had a point, but I missed it. Now I do not know the veracity of the above ... what is clear to me is that (like many things in the western world) bread is no longer bread (that strange sliced white loaf is probably full of sugar, etc) ... having lived in countries for 20 years where I slice my bread I've not noticed the incredibly time consuming act of slicing bread.

bane 12y ago

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.