White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf

Books

The story of how white bread became white trash, this social history shows how our relationship with the love-it-or-hate-it food staple reflects our country's changing values 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. So how did this 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. It 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 ...