White Bread: A Social History

"White Bread: A Social History"by Aaron Bobrow-Strain

"Aaron Bobrow-Strain has used white bread as a lens for looking at the history of food in America. He is an associate professor of politics at Whitman College, and his book, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf, investigates how white bread changed from a preserve of the wealthy to a cheap, processed product that, at times, is barely a food at all.

How did white bread, once an icon of American progress, become 'white trash'! In this lively history of bakers, dietary crusaders, and social reformers, Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us that what we think about the humble, puffy loaf says a lot about who we are and what we want our society to look like.

White Bread teaches us that when Americans debate what one should eat, they are also wrestling with larger questions of race, class, immigration, and gender. As Bobrow-Strain traces the story of bread, from the first factory loaf to the latest gourmet pain au levain, he shows how efforts to champion 'good food' reflect dreams of a better society—even as they reinforce stark social hierarchies.

In the early twentieth century, the factory-baked loaf heralded a bright new future, a world away from the hot, dusty, 'dirty' bakeries run by immigrants. Fortified with vitamins, this bread was considered the original 'superfood' and even marketed as patriotic—while food reformers painted white bread as a symbol of all that was wrong with America.

The history of America’s one-hundred-year-long love-hate relationship with white bread reveals a lot about contemporary efforts to change the way we eat. Today, the alternative food movement favours foods deemed ethical and environmentally correct to eat, and fluffy industrial loaves are about as far from slow, local, and organic as you can get. Still, the beliefs of early twentieth-century food experts and diet gurus, that getting people to eat a certain food could restore the nation’s decaying physical, moral, and social fabric, will sound surprisingly familiar.

Given that open disdain for 'unhealthy' eaters and discrimination on the basis of eating habits grow increasingly acceptable, White Bread is a timely and important examination of what we talk about when we talk about food."

Those who jump up and down on the messageboards pointing the finger at so-called 'unhealthy' eating habits might be surprised to know that they are talking about 'class hierarchy' and trying to dissociate themselves from those whom they think are their inferiors.

http://www.historiann.com/2012/03/05/white-bread-racial-purity-and-the-longue-duree/

Of course America is only about 200 years old as a country. The split of white bread and brown bread was happening hundreds of years before that in the Middle Ages in England - the "mother country".

" .While many people are aware of the differences between whole grain (brown) bread and white breads, few realize that it caused quite a stir in 1307 when the white bread bakers and brown bread bakers split to form separate guilds!."

".As early as 1826, the whole grain bread used by the military was called superior for health to the white, refined bread used by the aristocracy. ."

http://www.everydiet.org/1011/the-history-and-types-of-bread

I do love the websites you visit ellie :)
"History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present"

Well, if I had, there'd be nothing untoward about that.Are you repressed!

However, you are quite wrong in your assumptions, as usual.I listened to the author being interviewed by Kathryn Ryan on National Radio at 10.05 this morning and looked for his book on Amazon.com.

Oh my! fancy that ugli old man accusing you of that when it was in fact him who posted the website link !

Careful, senses of humour seem to disappear when posting on these boards. Plus, some seem to have the TM censors on speed dial.

he was interviewed around 10am on National Radio this morning. I caught the end of it. very interesting

Was going to comment on the bread thing but the thread has gone to the pack so nah!

The rot started at post #4 ;)

Wasn't that your link at Post #2!

Good spot!uli posted that website at post #2 and then sniggered about it at #4.

What a shame for her to derail this interesting topic.Poor beaker was so disheartened he didn't even bother to leave us his pearl of wisdom ;)

Any of you on mozilla firefox! if so you can get the add on "grease monkey" then get this little gem as an addition.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/123364

A lot of firefox users love their little select lists of 'grey people' whose comments they never have to read.It also has the advantage of discouraging the sniping comment.

so I see LOL