🍞 When Bread Was Sold Stale...By Law

Lunchbox Envy

This episode of Lunchbox Envy explores the deep historical, linguistic, and scientific connections to bread. The hosts traverse global culin

Key takeaways

The word 'companion' originates from the Latin 'companionum,' meaning a 'bread fellow' or mess mate.
During WWI, the UK government implemented a 'bread order' to sell stale bread to conserve wheat.
Nigella Lawson's famous 'twice buttered toast' involves buttering hot bread and then adding a second layer of cold butter.
Appalachian Salt Rising Bread uses Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium related to gas gangrene.
In the 1830s, British agricultural laborers spent approximately 55% of their total income on bread.

Main topics

Bread Etymology
Historical Wheat Shortages
Yeast and Fermentation Science

Notable quotes

Companion comes from the late Latin companionum, which means bread fellow or mess mate.

Conclusion

A delightful exploration of how bread serves as a fundamental pillar o

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 1 (0:30) This Speaker 3 (0:30) week on Lunchbox Envy. In the First World War, the government forced everyone to eat its tail. Every year Speaker 4 (0:37) in Britain, we feed 3.5 million loaves of it to birds. Speaker 2 (0:42) And until 2015, Parisian bakers were required to coordinate holidays to avoid shortages in case it led to a second revolution. Speaker 3 (0:51) It's bread! Speaker 4 (1:04) I hope you're not gluten intolerant because you're going to hate this podcast if you are. Not the one Speaker 3 (1:09) for you. Hello and welcome to Lunchbox MV. I'm Manu and I'm here with my companions, Lord Jack and Lady Rosie. Speaker 1 (1:20) Good afternoon. Speaker 4 (1:23) Why Speaker 3 (1:24) am I Speaker 4 (1:24) a Speaker 3 (1:25) lady, Speaker 4 (1:25) sorry? Speaker 3 (1:25) I mean I am, but why am I? All of these words are closely connected. with the food Rosie is currently putting into her mouth. What? So, companion comes from the late Latin companionum, which means bread fellow or mess mate. So someone you share bread with. Pan is bread. Yes. Pan is bread. Companion. Oh, yeah, I get it. So, yeah, if you're sharing bread with someone, they're your mate. Companion. Wow, yeah, Speaker 1 (1:55) that Speaker 2 (1:55) was sweet. I Speaker 4 (1:56) always really like it. Sorry, this is a massive segue, but you know when people have live, laugh, love signs all over the house and a really popular one is pat for bread? They literally just have bread on their wall. Like the word for bread. The word for bread, because it's in that old French, as if it's in a boulangerie above. And it's that fake style, like Etsy vibes. But it just looks like pain when it's our contest. So it's live, laugh, love, and then pain. Speaker 3 (2:23) Lord and lady, also very bready and crummy. So lord comes from the early word, hlafford. H-L-A. Halfords. It Speaker 4 (2:35) does look a lot like Speaker 3 (2:36) Halfords. Speaker 4 (2:36) I Speaker 3 (2:36) was Speaker 4 (2:36) going to say like Halfords. You can buy bicycles. Hlaford. Your dyslexic friend just asked you to pick up some light bulbs. Speaker 3 (2:44) Which means, which comes from an earlier word, hlafwird. The one who guards the loaves. Speaker 2 (2:50) The one who guards the loaves. Speaker 3 (2:51) And then lady, as in Lady Rosie. This one is a bit more contested, so we're not sure if this is completely true, but it's likely it comes from... The word hlafater, Speaker 4 (3:03) which Speaker 3 (3:04) means kind of household servant or loaf eater or loaf maker. So you've got the one that looks after the bread and then the one that's making it and or eating it. A Speaker 2 (3:14) bread winner. Speaker 3 (3:15) Oh, it's another good one. I mean, Speaker 2 (3:18) traditionally. It's Speaker 3 (3:18) kind Speaker 2 (3:18) of weird because then it got switched Speaker 4 (3:20) around. The roles got reversed at some point. The women started making the bread. A baker is an inherently... Male role. Like when you think about the children's books, like The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker, all men. Women also bake, bake bread. Speaker 3 (3:36) But men have jobs though. Women, we do not have jobs. And I Speaker 4 (3:42) would love one. I just don't know how to get one. I am not going to ask you what's your favourite type of bread because I think that question is too big. It's just too big, guys. What's your favourite time of bread? Speaker 2 (3:56) I'm talking about what's the Speaker 4 (3:57) occasion in bread, the moment in bread that you are like, yes, that's bread for me. Speaker 2 (4:03) I would say, I might have mentioned this before, my favourite liquid on the planet gets soaked up by bread. So if I'm on a picnic and I've made an insalata caprese, which is tomatoes, mozzarella, basil. Salt and pepper and olive oil. Speaker 3 (4:19) Yeah. And Speaker 2 (4:20) then once you've finished all the chunks, you get a slice of, it must be like a ciabatta or something Italian and white, and then just smear that and then... That's Speaker 3 (4:31) my Speaker 2 (4:31) favourite. Speaker 4 (4:32) Good answer. Thank you. That's Speaker 2 (4:33) a very Speaker 4 (4:33) good answer for a bread hater. There's a word for that in Italian. Scarpetta. Yes. Speaker 2 (4:37) Scarpetta. Speaker 4 (4:38) Scarpetta means the shoe. Speaker 2 (4:40) Oh, yes, I've heard this. Yeah, so you basically, Speaker 4 (4:42) you use your bread like a shoe to soak up liquid because it's famously soaked the Speaker 3 (4:49) bread up very well. Manu? Okay, drunk toast. Drunk toast. Speaker 2 (4:55) Is this toast you've dipped in cognac? Speaker 3 (4:58) No, this is the... You've been dipped in cognac? I've Speaker 2 (5:00) been Speaker 3 (5:00) dipped in cognac. You know when you're like, oh, shizer, I should have eaten a little bit more. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:06) And Speaker 3 (5:06) then you get back and you're like, oh. Bit of toast, because you feel like it's soaking up all of the evil you just put in your body. Like a salt. And it's fatty. What's on your drunk toast? Well, just butter. Okay. Speaker 4 (5:18) I assume Speaker 3 (5:19) salted. Speaker 4 (5:20) Oh, heavily. Like a Speaker 3 (5:22) bit of flaky salt on there. Yeah, double salting. Salted butter, Speaker 4 (5:25) extra salt on top. Speaker 3 (5:26) So good. I found, actually, in my research on this, Nigella's lockdown recipe for toast. Speaker 4 (5:34) Wow. I know. It was a duck. It better have been the best toast you've ever had. Speaker 3 (5:40) She calls it twice buttered toast. That's what I do every time. I don't write a recipe about it. That's just what I do. I don't Speaker 4 (5:48) know Speaker 3 (5:48) how she makes it so sexy either. I'm like, you're literally just buttering bread. But she's like, make a piece of toast. Butter the toast. I'm like, great, Nigella. I'm with you so Speaker 2 (5:58) far. Speaker 3 (5:58) And then she's like, let Speaker 4 (6:00) it cool. And then you butter it again. So you have a thick... Cold butter on top of hot bread, cold bread soap. So it's cold. I don't like the Speaker 3 (6:10) cold bit. It's room temp, but it's cool enough that it's got that layer on the top. But you've already hot buttered it, so the butter soaks down to the bottom. So Speaker 2 (6:20) it infuses and makes it all crispy. I bet this is pretty good. You Speaker 3 (6:23) know Speaker 2 (6:23) what? Annoyingly, Speaker 3 (6:24) I think it's probably really Speaker 2 (6:25) good. Speaker 4 (6:25) I'm Speaker 2 (6:25) sure Speaker 4 (6:25) it's delicious. Look, I'm not. She makes everything great. So good luck. Love you, Nigella, for reference. Okay, well, no one's going to ask me, so I'll ask myself. Speaker 2 (6:34) Rosie, what's your favourite? Speaker 4 (6:36) I think it probably is when you sit down at a restaurant, you're hungry, you've rushed there, maybe you got stuck on Jubilee line or an annoying train or a bus or, you know, someone walked slowly in front of you. God knows what's happened. You're annoyed, you're hot, you're Speaker 1 (6:50) a Speaker 4 (6:50) bit flustered, you're thirsty. And the restaurant has free bread and butter. Speaker 1 (6:55) And you Speaker 4 (6:56) sit there with your free bread and butter. It's baked into your bill. Don't get me wrong. I know it's not completely free. Speaker 2 (7:04) But Speaker 4 (7:04) the important thing is it isn't going to be something you have to ask for. It's just Speaker 2 (7:09) there for Speaker 3 (7:10) you. Speaker 4 (7:10) That's hospitality. Speaker 2 (7:11) It's like the NHS is free at the point of use. Speaker 4 (7:14) Yeah. I just think that is a great moment. And even if my friends aren't there, I'm at peace. I'm happy. And I'm resting. Speaker 2 (7:21) Wonderful. Speaker 4 (7:21) This is Speaker 3 (7:22) a nearly universal food. Like most cultures, most people around the world eat some version of bread. Yeah. Like it's such an important staple to our way of life that, you know, Linnaeus. Carl Linnaeus. Carl Linnaeus, the Scandinavian taxonomist, the dude who was like, I think we should use this Latin word and this Latin word to describe everything in the world. He had like a bread classification system, which was very nice because he was like, this is the most noble food. This food is everywhere. It's super, super important. So in his classification system, he had states of bread, which include warm, soft. And dry. Okay. But then also famous faults in bread, which is collapsed, rock hard, burnt, mouldy and worm eaten. Speaker 2 (8:09) Wow. I mean, those Speaker 4 (8:11) are sort of things I do look to avoid with bread. Yes. The worm eaten ones. Particularly the worm eaten. Speaker 2 (8:16) What's the Latin name for the Pizza Express dough balls? Oh, Speaker 4 (8:20) dough ball-less. Yeah, I Speaker 2 (8:24) read that many cultures around the world. the word for bread is the same as the word for food. Speaker 4 (8:28) Really? Yeah, it's just like the Speaker 2 (8:30) thing you eat. Speaker 4 (8:31) It's so fundamental to the food chain of most people. It is funny because it Speaker 2 (8:35) doesn't, I mean, maybe we should define it because it can come in so many different forms and so many different sort of ingredients. Speaker 4 (8:43) Yeah, you just Speaker 3 (8:44) made a Speaker 4 (8:44) very squidgy dough sound. Speaker 2 (8:45) I think, yeah, Speaker 4 (8:47) I Speaker 2 (8:47) mean, Speaker 4 (8:47) I think the thing about bread is that it is just basically... For me, if I were to define it culinarily speaking, it is something that starts as a dough that has some kind of fermentation process in it that then is baked or grilled or flat top, whatever. Or Speaker 2 (9:08) boiled. And that's it. Speaker 4 (9:09) Or boiled. Can you boil bread? Speaker 2 (9:11) Bagels are boiled. For Speaker 4 (9:12) me, the key thing is some kind of fermentation in a flour-based dough. basically but Speaker 3 (9:18) then a lot of flatbreads are not fermented no Speaker 4 (9:21) yeah fair enough so maybe not then it's tricky it Speaker 2 (9:24) is Speaker 4 (9:24) tricky it's Speaker 2 (9:25) tricky when it's a universal thing like everybody knows what it is it's Speaker 4 (9:28) like bread is a feeling you know what bread is Speaker 2 (9:30) bread is a vibe you Speaker 4 (9:31) know what bread is you know it's a bread but you can't say it's a bread it's just a bread Speaker 2 (9:35) it Speaker 4 (9:36) is a bread my bread is in here either way It's really nice. It's really good stuff. We like it. I think Speaker 2 (9:45) it's over 80s. I've often said it's my fourth of four favourite carbs. It goes pasta, rice, potatoes, bread. Speaker 4 (9:53) I'm going to hard disagree. Sure. I think the thing about bread for me is that it covers all the meal times. Whereas pasta and rice in my Western world don't always cover breakfast. If I am at a loss for what to make, I... I look for bread. Really? Speaker 1 (10:12) Bread Speaker 4 (10:13) is the thing I will use. It's the thing that if I don't have it in my house, I panic. It's Speaker 2 (10:20) the thing that I give my son the most. Speaker 4 (10:23) Yeah, it feels like the lifeblood of my kitchen in an ingredient form. Like it's the one thing that I always have. Speaker 2 (10:30) Did you know in the 1830s and 40s in this country, agricultural labourers would spend 55 % of their income on bread? Really? 75 % of their income on food, 55 % of all income on bread. So more than half of their total food budget went on bread. No Speaker 4 (10:48) wonder that money is referred to as bread. Yeah, of course. You've never heard that? Get that bread. Speaker 2 (10:54) Get that dough. Speaker 4 (10:55) Dough and Speaker 3 (10:55) bread. Yeah, they're both. Speaker 4 (10:56) Yeah, they both mean money. And Speaker 2 (10:58) recently, cheddar. Speaker 4 (11:00) Really? Good for cheddar. Love that for them. Or Speaker 2 (11:03) peas. Shout Speaker 4 (11:04) out Somerset. Speaker 2 (11:04) We talked about peas in the peas episode. There's lots of foods, actually. Speaker 3 (11:08) Wow. Bread and peas. Who's told you this? Speaker 2 (11:12) Crime. Crime. Speaker 3 (11:14) The Church of Crime. Speaker 2 (11:15) Skepta. So we mentioned in the start the French holiday system, which is amazing. I mean, when I was in France, there is a big divide amongst the general populace anyway about do you take your holidays in July or do you take them in August? And I've been to Paris in August and it's empty, basically. But yeah, it was a real issue that they were worried that. if all the bakers went on holiday, you know, they all happened to choose August, then there would be no supply for anyone who's left in Paris. So they legally mandated that every other, and they would choose them at random every year. Speaker 4 (11:48) That's crazy, but it doesn't exist anymore. No, I think Speaker 2 (11:50) they realised, well, I think they realised that like, they're sort of modernising France. They don't sort of close the whole of Sunday anymore, like shots are open 24 hours sometimes. Especially in an international city like Paris. Speaker 3 (12:03) Yeah. I remember, I think we've spoken about this before and then I was wondering what would happen if you had like a couple who are both bakers and then you work in the same bakery. Yeah. You're never allowed to take holidays at the same Speaker 2 (12:15) time. Speaker 3 (12:15) No, but I think it's Speaker 2 (12:16) the bakery that gets chosen. Speaker 4 (12:18) Oh, I see. God, imagine being the person in charge of choosing the bakery holidays. Like hospitality is a rough game. You're telling me I'm... Only allowed to take my holidays in July and August. Piss off. Speaker 2 (12:30) Ducks. We also mentioned ducks in the intro. You're not really meant to feed them bread. Speaker 4 (12:34) No, you're not. Speaker 2 (12:35) Oh, you Speaker 3 (12:36) know what? I am going to get on my high duck, my high horse. So the reason you might think this is because in 2018, there was a pet food company called Wild Things that spearheaded a campaign called Ban the Bread. And this... company basically sells mixed food for ducks in the wild how Speaker 2 (12:57) convenient follow the money it's Speaker 4 (12:59) crazy big duck feed you mean the the shady enterprise that is big bird feed i mean Speaker 3 (13:07) to be fair they are selling a nice product it's like duck food but it's got loads of different mixtures of stuff in it but they yeah they helped spearhead this 2018 campaign called ban the bread And everyone went mad and was like, we couldn't possibly. And then a lot of birds who rely on bread as like a big chunk