In Honor of Bread

Mmm, the week before Thanksgiving! I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to many delicious carbs on this festive day. I plan on eating buttery croissants, pumpkin tarts, and many other scrumptious baked goods. I am a huge fan of bread. I think it is the best comfort food, and nothing beats some cinnamon monkey bread or a rockin’ slice of banana bread after a long day of work. Bread has been an important staple in our culture: it is consumed for religious purposes, it serves as a metaphor for basic necessity, and baking bread is a symbol of peace.

This is a strange/amazing video on how one man makes his bread:

It further exemplifies just how sexy bread can be.

Bread has played a huge role in my life. I have a yearly tradition of baking a loaf of asiago cheese bread with friends, I make Funfetti cake at least once a month, and I even freestyled about bread with my friend Billy while throwing slices into the audience. Yea, yea, I’ve heard all the bad news about carbs. “Oh, they make you gain weight!” “Oh, they don’t have any nutritional value!” Blah, blah, blah is all I hear. I am completely willing to do an extra workout if I can enjoy a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese inside. YUM!

Some fun facts about bread I bet you didn’t know:

-Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the New Stone Age in 10,000 BC

-Bread has a guest appearance in the Magna Carta

-Each American consumes an average of 53 pounds of bread per year

-Early Egyptian writings told mothers to send their children to school with plenty and bread and beer

– Napoleon gave one type of bread its name when he ordered a loaf of dark rye bread for his horse during the Prussian campaign. He said, “Pain pour Nicole,” (Bread for Nicole) but to German ears, it sounded like he said “pumpernickel,” which is the term we still use today

And to close, I invite you to visit the Bread People website. This site merges celebrity faces with baked dough. Yes, it is exactly what you’d imagine it to be and more.

This brings new meaning to the song, "Maneater"

So this Thanksgiving, forget what the media and “health professionals” say about carbohydrates. Send Dr. Atkins an email telling him that he’s a created a diet deprived of fun! Eat some garlic bread, crackers and dip, or whatever your fancy may be. Oh, and have a good Thanksgiving week with family…since it’s not really about the beauteous spread of food. It’s about family.

Bon appétit!