Lady Lunchalot

In typical Roman fashion technologically advanced grain mills were developed to produce finer quality flour. Wealthy citizens ate refined white bread, while the poor bought coarse heavier breads.

However bread has not been the lifegiving source to all cultures, and excessive dependence on bread has even led to widespread famine. Wheat fields require a great deal of space, and the same soil cannot be tilled year after year. Europe and the Mediterranean regions were not the best places to grow crops, so, under Roman instruction, Egypt and Africa became Europe’s wheat fields. As a result of the Roman passion for bread, it quickly a European staple. For centuries Europe was dependent on a crop which was extremely volatile. If grain could not be imported or produced, Europe starved.

France is perhaps the most famous example of a country left vulnerable to the whims of the wheat trade. Thousands of Parisian peasants revolted because of the lack of bread on their tables, leading to Marie Antoinette’s infamous expression, “Let them eat cake.”

Civilisations from each continent have developed their own types of breads. Today at supermarkets and bakeries we can choose between baguettes, bannock, brioche, panini, pumpernickel, challah, lavash, and foccaccia. We eat naan bread with curries, tortillas with burritos, and pitta with kebabs. Regardless of the variety of food modern societies have access to, history has made bread an invaluable staple; a food which provides nourishment and comfort to almost each one of the earth’s cultures.