"He's the bread winner in that family." That statement refers to the fact that the person mentioned earns the most money in the household. It can also be indicative of how important bread is considered in our society. Bread is a staple and it seems that it always has been.

Bread is probably the most eaten food in nearly all the countries of the world. Bread and baking can be traced back to early human civilization. Bread was often mentioned in the Bible (IE "give us this day our daily bread") and discoveries of traces of bread and bread making tools have been were found in archaeological sites dating back to the Stone Age. Pictures of loaves of bread have also been seen in ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Bakers of bread in ancient Rome were considered to be very special and were high up in Roman hierarchy showing the importance of bread to that society. Early Greeks and Romans preferred their bread to be white in color, possibly the precursor for the preference that we North Americans have for white bread? During the Middle Ages in Britain an apprentice baker had to serve a very long apprenticeship before they could be known as a Baker, and the rules regarding recipes and particularly the weight of loaves were extremely stringent and under-weighing of loaves was severely punished by law.

Wheat is the basic grain that has been used to make the flour for bread, but by no means is it the only grain that you will find in bread as flour or as added for flavor and texture. In North America multi-grain breads are becoming very popular and often include healthy seeds such as flax and sunflowers. It's a big world out there and I know I'm not covering all countries or even all breads, but here is a short list of some breads and their countries of origin. Some of these however, are not traditional breads that we in North America would put as sandwiches in our "brown bag" lunches.

Scone...Scotland
Soda Bread....Ireland
Russian "black breads"
French Bread, baguette
Mexican Corn Tortilla
Matzah Bread from Israel
Scandinavian rye breads
Middle Eastern Pita Bread
Italian Grissini, bread sticks
Winnipeg Rye bread

For those of you who are thinking, I know most of these breads, but Winnipeg rye bread? I live in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, and I just had to mention the fabulous bread made here in the north end of Winnipeg, It's a delicious rye bread made with locally grown ryes and wheats and I have never tasted a rye bread anywhere that matches it. In a way it's world famous, because I'm told that the local bakery receives orders for this bread from all over the world.

Learn more about this author, Gary Tougher.
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