The White Bread Myth

While looking into the history of bread that I discovered this rather odd fact, that it was during the industrial revolution that white bread became the norm. This was not because it was what people preferred, but the factory owners who also controlled the flour mills, wanted the workers to eat it as with far less roughage it meant that the workers needed fewer toilet breaks.

There is a myth that people preferred white bread and that was why it replaced the traditional wholemeal. But the reality was that it was not until urbanisation and industrialisation that white bread really started to be eaten by all but a few of the elite nobility as white bread was far more expensive to produce. That also meant that there was a demand for white bread as people wanted to emulate the upper classes, but this did not mean that the majority wanted or demanded white bread. Not least because to make white flour you loose 30 percent of the weight and volume when you remove the germ and the bran. Even the middle classes could not afford to loose that much, and in pre industrial Britain nothing was wasted.

Also in pre industrial Britain, bread was a product that was predominantly home baked and even in the 16th and 17th centuries it was possible to sieve out the bran. Therefore if people had truly been demanding white bread why were they not making it like that themselves? There are food historians who see the change to white bread as being consumer led, when the reality was it was imposed upon them by mill owners.

Equally as the population moved from the countryside, they became reliant upon bread made by “Journeymen Bakers” who set up in the new industrial centres. Because of the lack of hygiene with many of these bakers, having white bread enabled the industrialised population to avoid contaminated bread. Put simply, droppings that could be hidden in a wholemeal loaf were much more evident in white bread. This was why the Bakers were Journeymen, as the were often driven out of town because of these problems.

Thus while it was historically true that there was a switch to white bread at the same time of industrialisation, it was not because of a consumer demand for white bread, but imposition and avoiding the low hygiene standards of some of the bakers. Also at the same time as this social change was happening in Britain, on continental Europe, new milling processes were developed. Traditionally all flour had been ground using stones, but with steam power came the ability to use steel rollers to crack and grind the wheat. As stone milling can result in sparks if run to fast, resulting in mill fires. Steel Roller milling avoided this, and more wheat could be ground faster and the technology allowed the bran and germ to be removed making it possible to make white flour cheaper than wholemeal.

As white flour was now cheaper the working population made that switch to white bread, not because it was better but was cheaper. This switch to white bread mirrored another change, the health of the general population also became the worse that it ever was in Britain. While aspects of industrialisation have traditionally be blamed, and that will be true in some aspects, this major change in the diet was really at the centre of this. Further, because white flour was far easier to adulterate, the lower nutritional value of white bread was further reduced by adding items like chalk.

However the adulteration was far more dangerous than adding chalk, as often alum was added to bread. As it aided the rise and made the gluten more elastic it looked like bakers had found a magic ingredient, except that alum is a poison. It stops the body absorbing and making vitamin D, and indirectly white bread added to an epidemic of rickets in Britain.

This changed when Britain started to import wheat from Canada and America. With better wheat growing climates and different varieties, it was possible to have cheap and price stable, bread in Britain and Ireland for the first time.

All this was fine until the first world war, when grain supplies form overseas were interrupted. It took nearly three years for British agriculture to respond and by the end of the Great war all bread was wholemeal. As simply we could not allow thirty percent of the grain to be wasted.

The situation returned where Britain imported most of its bread grain, and white bread regained predominance. Just because it was cheap. As by this point the wheat-germ and the bran were now useful to feed livestock, so rather than grow bread wheat, British farmers just grew wheat for animal feed. As during the inter-war years the market for animal feed was limited, many farms closed down. Further, the wheat industry was controlled by a small group of large companies that milled the wheat and even controlled the bakeries across the nation. Thus white bread became the norm again.

Then came the second world war, and again importing wheat became difficult. However, the experience of the first world war actually provided lessons, and the war time government understood the need to produce food. Fortunately because so many farms had been abandoned and left unproductive, there was the land available to increase food production. Also, because of the waste that milling white flour produced, a type of bread was produced that was called “The National Loaf”. This was a bran rich semi Wholemeal, using a flour known as wheat-meal, containing 85% of the wholemeal. And it is here that the myth of white bread really takes hold.

The National Loaf was universally despised by everyone. It was not until talking to a retired baker who had started his apprenticeship during the war, did I discover that by law bakers could not sell bread on the day it was baked but only on the following day. Thus, during the war The National Loaf was stale bread, and who wants to eat stale bread? Therefore when in the early 1950s bread rationing was ended, the major millers that had controlled the bread industry returned to making the bread that made them the most profit. But also, bread became fresh again.

It was therefore no surprise that white bread became popular, as compared to the stale bread people had grown used to, a basic white loaf was better.

Equally at the same time was the need to feed a starving Europe, thus bread started to be made in ever larger quantises, in factories rather than bakeries. As a result a bakery industry research laboratory was set up in Chorley Wood. While it was supposed to represent all bakers, the smallest through to the largest, as often happens the largest players took control. Out of this what's now known as the Chorley-wood Bread Process was developed. This reduced the bread making process from three hours to one hour.

With lots of marketing, the British public were sold this new bread by all the major players. In fact it became nearly impossible to buy real wholemeal bread, and the only choice was only the different brands of the same bland, white pap being sold as bread.

Good white bread can be very good, but often it is just the bread of choice simply because it is cheap and what is available. Throughout history it has not so much been the bread of choice but what has been imposed by others. During the early Industrial years, it played a part in damaging public health. Equally, during the second world war, a type of wholemeal played its part in improving the nations health. It is for good reason that bread is called the staff of life.

This is where the Chorley-wood Bread Process has harmed real bread. Because so many people have been brought up only eating this poor excuse for bread, they just don't realise what real bread tastes like. As natural bread needs time to mature, for the flavours to develop, cutting the time to a third of the natural process means that majority of bread is flavourless. Further, as the Chorley-wood process, makes a bread that makes people feel bloated and could well be a contributory factor to bowel problems and coeliac disease.

It is telling that in my local village co-operative supermarket, it is the better quality breads that sell out fastest and what is often left is the cheap white pap. Additionally, across the nation there are quality artisan bakers making real bread in many different forms. So while the food industry has tried to ruin bread and most other foods too, real bread still exists and is growing in popularity.

While white bread has its place in the larder, there is nothing better than a good wholemeal loaf. There will never be a time when we will return to everyone making their own bread, nor will the cheap imitation of bread ever disappear, but slowly people are discovering what the food industry has tried to take away from us.

Cooking Seasonally

One of the joys of eating seasonally, is the coming of new crops and new flavours. While not totally new as in something that you have never tried before, but flavours, tastes and dishes that you have not been able to have for a while. Thus it was with delight that I saw the first of the new season Rhubarb in the Greengrocers. When I had a foster garden (Allotment), it was one of those free crops as I have never had a foster garden that did not have it growing in. It was often neglected but once dug up, divided and nurtured again they come up again very well.

So it is really nice to see Greengrocers stocking these items when in season. It is often in these ways that the small independent shops keep the customers coming back. And it is these small shops that make a community.

So with this seasons rhubarb I made a crumble this weekend and pleased my partner no end. If any man wants to know how to please a woman, cook for her.

Cannelloni

There are some pasta dishes that you either see in restaurants or as prepared meals in the supermarkets. Cannelloni is one of these.

It has been one that I have not made for a while, but while out for dinner with my better half, she mentioned that she loved Cannelloni so I had a look for the pasta to use at home. But in Tesco the price was nearly three pounds, and was far to expensive. I even considered making my own pasta to get around that cost, but I knew that I would find it cheaper elsewhere. But Morrisons did not stock it and it was not until last week that I had the opportunity to visit Asda where I found it on the shelf for less than one pound.

Therefore I got some Ricotta cheese and everything else I had to make some Ricotta and spinach Cannelloni While it is a dish that requires you getting your hands in the food, and does take a bit of effort, the resulting meal was much praised by my better half.

However, it was the cost difference between buying the ready made Cannelloni that made me think. While you can bye ready meals Ricotta and spinach Cannelloni for three pounds per portion, with only two or three stuffed tubes. Yet it cost me less than two pounds to make this with four stuffed tubes per serving. This without the artificial additives that often ruin the taste of so many processed meals.

If anyone ever doubted that home cooking was worth the effort, then this dish shows that it is it. Not just with the money saved but with the improved flavour, texture and taste.

A Civilised way to Shop

I live in a former mining village and like most villages across the country, there are limited shopping opportunities. When I first moved here three years ago, it was the local woodland that was the main attraction and had I been looking for good food shopping locations, this would not have been it. I did try supporting the local shops and it does have a greengrocer, but the range is limited and the quality poor. Thus I have had to travel in to the city of Newcastle or the Town of Consett to get fruit and vegetables.

However, last year in the next village a greengrocer opened. And near Christmas I popped in and get some items. I was reasonably impressed with the quality, so I have been intending to return. But as its not cheap to hop on the bus for short trips, it was not worth doing that. Also with the hard winter, walking there was not really an option either, well not until now. With the arrival of spring, I decided that it was worth taking a stroll through the woods to greengrocers for the items that I needed. I was needing a few items to cook a particular dish.

While the quality of some items was not perfect, they were more than adequate for my needs, and the quality of most were better than most places and better than I could get in my village. The price was very reasonable too. For example the leeks were 30% cheaper than most places and half the cost of the supermarkets.

Also as they serve tea as they are next to the road entrance to the forest I was able to stop for a cup before walking back through the woodland landscape. Thus making a very civilised way to go shopping. I will be trying to make the effort to go as regularly as I can, but as with most people, I can only do that when time allows.

Who is cheapest?

It is rather interesting that since I discovered the other Supermarket in Consett and stopped going as frequently to Tesco to do my main shopping, they have started sending me incentives and discount vouchers. As well as the simple fact that I dislike the fact that Tesco is the largest retailer in Britain and I dislike supporting any business that is that dominant in the market, when I discovered Morissons I also discovered that I was saving money too.

While each of the supermarkets like to claim they are the cheapest, often the reality is far more complex as the quality of the items used to make the comparison can be very varied. Therefore, if you compare on a like for like basis, Tesco were and are far from the cheapest. Often the items that Tesco use to compare to prices with will be lower quality. This is one of the reasons why Tesco and Asda had competing television advertising campaigns each claiming they were the cheapest. Well it helped boost the coffers of the television media companies, even if it just confused the consumers.

While I have no love for the cheapest junk that the supermarkets try and foist upon us, for many people cheap food really matters for them. Not least because the poor, that are the majority in this country, struggle to afford to feed themselves.

While I may, and often do, rail about the really poor quality of some of the foods sold by the retailers, majority that are poor are dependent upon the “so called” food the processors and retailers supply. It is not that the poor do not appreciate good food, it is just that they have to buy what they can afford.

It is clear that there is an epidemic of obesity and other health problems as a result of this junk food, but often the debate has been strongly slanted toward blaming the poor for this. When the reality is that it is the salt, sugar and fat content of the cheap foods, often concealed, that is really to blame. After all no one would choose to eat bad or poor quality food.

Further while I am a great advocate for people learning to cook and home cooking, if someone lacks the basic skills and knowledge and are poor, they can not afford to experiment and risk having other family members refusing to eat the food. Therefore the media coverage has been rather bias, blaming the poor for problems that are imposed upon them.

While I will defend the underdog in the food debate, there is a minority among the poor that are culpable in their own poor diets. I have known several people, both male and female, who lived off of takeaway food for their main meal. While relying upon chocolate, crisps and biscuits (cookies) and other snack foods for other meals. They then would claim that they were overweight because of glands or hormone problems. All utter nonsense, as the science just does not back up such claims. Becoming overweight is just a simple equation of energy in and energy out in all but exceptional cases.

However, even people who are attempting to eat carefully and trying to avoid foods that are high in sugar and fat can have problems as the manufacturers far to often saturate supposedly healthy food with sugar, salt or fat. As they are cheap and can help to hide the cheaper low flavour ingredients. Therefore avoiding foods that are laced with the unholy trinity is near impossible sometimes. Even as a regular label reader, I can and do get caught out sometimes too.

The supermarkets are in a price war, or more accurately, in a war of price claims. Unfortunately the lower prices are only achieved trough reducing quality. Additionally the offers are often on the types of processed foods that should be either avoided or eaten rarely therefore, none of the major retailers are that cheap or good value for money.

Eggs

It is said that you learn something new everyday. Well from the news story that a businessman has been jailed for selling cheap imported caged eggs as Organic and Free Range, I learn how to discover if the eggs are from caged production. Under ultra violet light you can see the marks of the bars of the cage imprinted upon the shell. As I have an ultra violet lamp for another task, I was able to confirm this by taking it to the supermarket.

As I have been caught out myself by retailers who will tell lies about the origin of of the eggs, it is useful to have this extra tool. Back when I first moved to the village I live in, the local greengrocer was doing this. However, as I know the codes that tell you what method of production the eggs are from, I soon spotted this. Initially I was prepared to accept that this was a genuine mistake. Then I went to the store again and specifically asked if they had any free range eggs. The eggs however were stamped with the code that said they were caged eggs. What the owner of the shop told me though was extraordinary, he claimed it was a special code for local production. That was and is rubbish as the codes are an Europe wide system.

The matter was reported to the appropriate authorities and they got a heavy slap on the wrist, as this was not the first time they had been caught doing this. I have no idea if they still try to get away with this as I no longer will use the store. I am not the only person who shuns the store, I know that a significant portion of the village avoid using the village greengrocer too.

There will be some folks that do not understand why this really matters, as to them one egg is just the same as another. Well I can taste a difference and free range eggs do taste better. But the issue of the source of eggs matters because of public health. It does happen that eggs can become contaminated and with caged production there is a greater risk for this. Also if there were a recall where caged eggs were suspect, but barn or free range were known to be safe, it could mean that consumers would still eat contaminated eggs thinking them safe.

This is why the businessman who has been convicted was using imported eggs, as the systems within Europe just made it impossible to fool the system and commit the fraud using eggs from inside the European Union.

As a result of this case though, the various bodies that regulate the egg industry have put in place extra measures and checks to close the loopholes that were exploited. Additionally, the supermarkets and major retailers have ensured that this will never happen again.

Sustainable Fish

In my other on line journal, I have long been ad advocate of the need for a moratorium on fishing to allow depleted stocks to recover. Long before the banking collapse, and then I was told that European economic rules did not allow member states to support or subsidies any industry or sector, thus fishermen could not be paid not to fish. These same rules were pushed aside when governments wanted to bail out the banks. But for far less money than it cost to bail out the banks, the fishing industry could have been paid to stay in port for two to four years, while fish stocks could have recovered.

The problem is that far to much of the fishing industry is unsustainable. A major part of that arises from the way the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is implemented in Europe, and for at least thirty years, that scientific advice has been ignored. The politicians always put jobs and short term votes, before the long term viability of the fishing industry.

Thus I am rather sceptical of claims of some sustainable schemes. However, the Marine Stewardship Council scheme does seem to really do what the job it is supposed to do.

However, the greatest problem is getting the message across to the public that sustainability of the fish they eat really does matter. So often when fish is cooked on television in cookery programmes there are frequently no mention of the sustainability of the fish, and often they are using fish that are unsustainable and endangered by overfishing. Equally, many of the supermarkets will make a big “Song and Dance” about using fish from sustainable sources and endorsed by the Marine Stewardship Council, yet will still sell fish and species from unsustainable sources.

Yet here in Britain one major retailer has gone a step further. While M&S (Marks and Spenser) is targeted towards the higher end of the food market and their customer demographic is much more Middle Class than most food retailers, they have signed up to the WWFs Seafood Charter. The first in the UK, and it will mean that by 2015 all their seafood will come from the most sustainable sources. Not just sustainable sources the most sustainable sources, thus ensuring that fish and fishing survives. Now I have no doubt that they have done this for economic reasons, and not least to ensure that they will have stocks for the future, perhaps when others can not obtain fish or seafood at all. But at least it is a move in the right direction and I hope that all the other retailers take note and realise that only by going to true sustainability will they have fish to sell in the future.


A link to see films that tell the story further