How Did Sliced Bread Become the Greatest Thing?

The best thing since sliced bread ... CREDIT: Whole grain bread photo via Shutterstock View full size image

The best thing since sliced bread is hard to beat. But it took a genius and some hard work to come up with the original bright bread idea.

In 1912, jeweler Otto Frederick Rohwedder began working on the world's first bread slicer. It took several years, and many unsuccessful models, before he devised a machine that would not only slice the bread, but also wrap it up to keep it from going stale.

Rohwedder sold his slicing and wrapping machine to the Chillicothe Baking Company in 1928 and later that year the bread company sold the first loaf of sliced bread. The pre-cut slices were especially popular thanks to the well-timed invention of the pop-up toaster.

Wonder Bread's 1930 marketing campaign rose sales of sliced bread to new heights.

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