The Best Thing since Sliced Bread

This blog is going to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Okay, well even if you don't agree with my narcissistic proclamations, at least this blog is about sliced bread.  You may not marvel at the existence of sliced bread as you pop those squares of goodness into the toaster each morning, but there was, believe or not, a time when people bought their bread....unsliced! (It was during this time people also had to walk uphill both ways to school in snowstorms).

So now you are probably wondering how those labour inducing unsliced loaves transformed into the wonderful pre-sliced bundles we have come to expect from the good people at Wonderbread and Dempsters. Or you may be hungry.

I can't solve any hunger issues but I can give you a variety of online resources to satisfy your pangs of curiosity.


1. Wikipedia - Sliced Bread
If you don't know the first thing about sliced bread, Wikipedia is a great place to start your research.  That's right - go ahead and use the oft-scorned Wikipedia. The site provides an article concisely summarizing the origins and history of sliced bread, including a note on the 1943 American ban of sliced bread. The Wikipedia platform is not conducive to in-depth analysis, but it is an ideal source for gaining a general understanding of the topic and building a foundation for further research. Now don't expect this article to actually claim that sliced bread is indeed the greatest thing - the crowds of Wikipedia enthusiasts are a pretty neutral bunch and are quite diligent in preventing outlandish statements.  So ignore those teachers and professors who lament Wikipedia's lack of academic integrity - rebel and research!

2. Modern Mechanix - Slicing Bread by Machinery, November 1929
The rebellious historian in me just told you to use Wikipedia but now my proper historian is coming out to tell you to use this primary source to check out what people were saying about sliced bread when it was the newest thing in town.  Modern Mechanix was an early American magazine and many of its articles have been digitized and placed online for perusal at the blog modernmechanix.com.  Reading this article will give you a sense of the excitement over the innovative bread slicing technology and a look at how the machinery was used to slice loaves.  This source also clearly lays out exactly who is supposed to be excited about the prospect of sliced bread. 

3. MIT Inventor of the Week - Otto Rohwedder
In order to truly understand the sliced bread phenomenon, it is necessary to know the man behind the machine, Mr. Otto Rohwedder. A detailed summary of Rohwedder's life and work is showcased on the Lemuslon-MIT website as part of its Inventor of the Week feature (the Lemuslon-MIT program is dedicated to honoring individuals whose inventions have improved our lives). It is apparent from this source that Rohwedder committed a lot of time and energy to designing and developing his bread slicing technology and is rightly called "the father of sliced bread."

4. Home of Sliced Bread - Chillicothe, Missouri
This website is a one-stop shop for everything and anything related to sliced bread.  The enthusiastic residents of small town Chillicothe and its Sliced Bread Committee made this website as an homage to sliced bread while also attempting to capitalize on its status as the birthplace of the product.  In the midst of the sliced bread T-shirts, aprons, postcards and ornaments, this site really does have some great information compiled by Chillicothe's bread-loving citizens. In addition to the general history of sliced bread, the website offers a variety of news articles relating to sliced bread, all of Rohwedder's patent information (including a pdf of the original patent), as well as photographs of the earliest bread slicing machines and of Otto Rohwedder himself.  I have a hunch that the people of Chillicothe really do think sliced bread is the greatest invention and they wouldn't be ashamed to admit it.

So there you have it - everything you need to begin your quest for sliced bread knowledge. Forget Google - if you really want to "rise" up to the challenge and "cut" through the information to have a "measure" of success, just use this blog.  After all, it is the best thing since sliced bread. Even with the terrible puns.