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| Mama Jolly's mixing bowl |
There are lots of nominees for that title, but.....no one seems to know what the greatest thing was BEFORE sliced bread!
However, I'll take a stab at it.
I believe it was this wooden bowl that's been in my family for at least 200 years.
My Mom remembers her Mom mixing the ingreedients for bisquits in this bowl every morning, and HER Mom remembers HER Mom doing the same thing...and on and on.
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| Frederick Rohwedder |
No doubt my Mom would have continued that noble tradition except for the great technological leap made less than 10 years before I was born. It occurred on July 7, 1928, and this year I personally plan to celebrate the event; the 86th birthday of ...Sliced Bread!
It's hard to believe that it took so long to come up with something so practical and, yes crucial, to our daily lives. But first, of course,a working bread slicing machine had to be invented and then someone had to figure out how to wrap the bread properly to keep it from quickly becoming stale.
Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa was the man who finally did and the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri was the first company to produce and sell the product. The first loaf ever made was named "Kleen Maid Slicked Bread."
The first company to produce and distribute sliced bread nationally was Wonder Bread in 1930.
Unfortunately, the Wonder Bread Company went belly up a couple of years ago, but happily, a company named Flowers Foods bought the company for $360 million and brought back those loaves wrapped in bright balloons!
Frankly, I never could taste the difference between one loaf of White Bread and another. I had my Mom buy Merita Bread for years because it sponsored the Lone Ranger Radio program. In college I was loyal to Holsum Bread because they sponsored my radio show. After that I usually bought the house brand, because it was cheaper.
From now on, I plan to purchase Wonder Bread. It's the least I can do to show my appreciation. If it hadn't been for them and old Fred R., I don't believe the peanut butter and jelly sandwich would ever have been invented.
Or if it had been, can you imagine how ugly it would have been after having the peanut butter spread on the hand sliced bread ?
-Ed
