In preparation for an upcoming trip to Italy I came across an interesting article, the subject matter was Europeans’ complaints and observations about American food. While the article was not relevant to the information I was looking for, I couldn’t help but read the piece.

One item on the list truly surprised me. Apparently, the majority of the Europeans polled could not understand Americans’ partiality to white bread. Most of the people polled had never tried white bread before coming to America and, after tasting it, rarely ate it again. I recently asked a colleague, who was born and raised in Croatia, as to her thoughts about white bread. Her comments were almost identical to the article, she tasted it once and never went back.

 I never thought of white bread as being an “American thing.” I was raised on Wonder Bread. My mother insisted that my brother, sister and I eat at least one piece of it a day, whether it be toast for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch.  She often told us that Wonder Bread had added calcium and vitamins that would help us grow. I looked at the Wonder Bread website and they still claim that two slices of their bread have as much added calcium as eight ounces of milk. 

With my own children, I leaned more towards whole wheat breads but, every so often would bring home a loaf of Wonder Bread. For some reason a peanut butter and jelly sandwich never tasted right on whole wheat bread, it had to be Wonder Bread.

Were you raised on white bread? Are you still eating it?