It’s World War II and the War Department is looking for ways to optimize the American economy for war production. Savings are needed throughout the system. They launched rationing of essential goods and services. And someone, somewhere, although it is not clear who, decided that bakers should stop pre-slicing bread. The idea was sound, it would save on wax paper and bread would last longer if sliced by the customer. However, the ban turned out to be unnecessary and very unpopular. Since the introduction of pre-sliced bread in 1928, Americans had gotten used to buying bread in neat, even slices that they could not reproduce at home.
This is fascinating history. Who knew that sliced bread could be so controversial?
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