Bread the ultimate human food
About 230 years ago, Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France supposedly said “Let them eat cake” when people in her country were so poor that they couldn’t afford to buy bread. Because the king and queen didn’t understand that their people were starving, the French Revolution began, which led to the deaths of most members of the ruling class.
Facts
- Bread plays an important role in many religions, especially in Judaism and Christianity.
- Because bread molded quickly, people used to make beer with leftover bread.
- Moldy bread was also used as medicine and served as an early form of antibiotics thousands of years before Penicillin was invented.
- For Native Americans, a special bread called ‘fry bread’ has symbolic meaning, that reminds them of the time when they were oppressed by the American settlers.
Big picture
Have you ever heard the term “breaking bread”? While the saying originates in Christian religion, it is used today to describe how we connect with others while sharing a meal.
Food is seen as the great connector: You offer food when someone is grieving, to celebrate a special occasion, to enjoy family time or to find common ground with people of a different culture. Many meals are based on traditions that go back generations and are important for people to be connected to their communities.
