Things are getting all emotional in our world this week as the Australian Prime Minister falls foul of the healthy eating lobby, Tik-Tok loses its mind over one man’s insistence on buttering bread his way, and a US celeb expresses a hatred of bread. The world might be losing its marbles but we are keeping calm and carrying on, baking up a storm for our foodservice customers as usual. 

Aussie PM slammed for ‘normalising’ white bread

Australians are apparently furious about PM Scott Morrison, whose comments about bread saw him being criticised for ‘making life harder for health advocates’. So what’s all the fuss about?

A nutrition expert has called for wholemeal bread to be made cheaper than white bread. When Mr Morrison admitted he didn’t know how much bread cost, then had the temerity to describe himself as a ‘normal white bread, white toast man’, things got nasty.

Experts say white bread Down Under has ‘far less nutritional content’ than brown wholemeal and multigrain. In reaction to the PM’s claims Nareen Young, a Professor for Indigenous Policy at the University of Technology in Sydney replied that only ‘Anglo men’ ate white bread. The argument rumbles on…

Apwasi says we butter our bread wrong – others say his way is ‘barbaric’

Honestly. Some people have too much time on their hands, including – perhaps – the entire population of TikTok.

According to a man called Apwasi, an etiquette expert on the social network, this is, allegedly, how classy people butter their bread. One should never butter an entire slice at once. One must instead break the bread into smaller pieces and butter them individually. 4.4 million views of the TikTok video have divided opinion, leaving the Tik-Tokosphere in bread-led chaos yet again. Some of the 4,500 people who left comments even called Apwasi ‘barbaric’.

Desperate Housewives star virtue signals a dislike of bread

The US actress and star of Desperate Housewives Eva Longoria dislikes chocolate and bread. How odd. Perhaps she is from another planet. An interview for Women’s Health magazine revealed the star’s fitness routine, diet, and favourite snacks and treats. In her words, “I don’t like sweets or chocolate, and people hate me for it. Bread too – I hate bread. I’m never tempted by the breadbasket.” Unusually, this story leaves us genuinely speechless. Maybe we should send Eva some of our gorgeous artisan breads to sample. 

Rock hard brown sugar? Rescue it with bread

OMG, your brown sugar has gone rock solid inside the packet, a little block of dense brown concrete. Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring. Find an airtight container, pop the sugar in, add a slice of fresh bread, then shut the lid and wait. Two hours or so later your sugar will be soft and useable again, and your slice of bread will be as dry as a bone.

Whoops – Tesco boss says ignore bread best-before dates

The boss of Tesco has advised consumers keep their bread in the fridge and ignore the best-before date in an effort to tackle food waste. John Allan, Tesco’s chairman, says people are chucking out ‘perfectly edible food’ because of ‘overly conservative best-before dates’, but simply changing your bread storage habits, putting it in the fridge instead of a bread bin, keeps it fresher for longer.

In his words, “There is a re-appraisal going on at the moment about whether sell-by or eat-by dates are over-conservative, and I think that’s going to change in the years ahead. Quite a lot of those dates will come off.”

So it’s back to the olden days, when we had to actually look at and sniff our bread to figure out if it was still edible? We think we’ll be able to just about manage that… especially since there’s a big problem with Mr Allan’s tip. We know, as expert artisan bakers, that storing bread in the fridge actually accelerates the staling process. So it should be avoided at all costs!

FREE artisan bread samples to test

As usual we’re happy to send foodservice businesses a free sample box crammed with our beautiful artisan baked goods. If you haven’t dipped your toes into the magic of our world yet, it’s time to give us a go and delight your end-customers even more than usual.