Opinion: History teaches us that the story of bread, one of our indispensable key for our survival which plays an integral role in our daily life, began more than 30 000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, but since then, has been on a creative and innovation journey across the globe.
By Wendy Bedforth
“Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad but bread is king,” said American writer and conservationist and one of the earliest proponents of sustainable and organic agriculture Louis Bromfield.
Bromfield is correct. History teaches us that the story of bread, one of our indispensable key for our survival which plays an integral role in our daily life, began more than 30 000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, but since then, has been on a creative and innovation journey across the globe.
HISTORY OF BREAD
According to the history of food, bread was one of the first ever foods before humans became agricultural. Our forefathers used tools to crack and smash various cereals and grains to make them into a more versatile food. Lest we forget that it was our forefathers who mixed the cracked grains with water to create a variety of foods including porridge. We are taught that leaving the paste out in the sun formed a dry bread-like crust.
Now we know that some of the first innovations was when foam from beer fermentation or wine juice was used in baking to add a unique lightness and taste.
SLICED BREAD
Bread is a universal food that exists in every country around the world. There are many types of bread depending on where one is from. Each has its own interesting culinary history.
These days we hear of a phrase “The best thing since sliced bread,” commending Otto Frederick Rohwedder in 1928 when he developed a bread-slicing machine that both sliced and wrapped bread.
This phrase is commonly used to describe how great something is, comparing it with the wonderful invention of sliced bread.
During the 20th century, bread baking was industrialised to make the process much quicker and consistent so that it could be mass produced.
Baking bread has come full circle and the importance of this in society has seen many innovations over the years. As part of evolution, we are told that the first free-standing ovens with an open door for access were invented by the Greeks, with different breads being made including pastries and cakes.
BEER MAKING AND BREAD
Beer is a fermented beverage known since ancient times. Currently, it is the fifth most frequently consumed drink on a global scale.
Now who thought the production of beer can be related to bread making. Brewers tell us that the production of beer is divided into malting, milling, mashing, lautering, adding hops or hop extract and boiling the beer wort with these additives, disposal of spent hops and precipitated trub, cooling the wort and aeration, fermentation with yeasts, removal of yeast, conditioning (maturation, ageing) and packaging.
The beer brewing process produces three by-products (spent grains, spent hops, and surplus yeasts). These by-products remain limited in terms of application and are often used in animal feeds in animal husbandry.
Spent grain has a very high percentage of protein and fibre compared to other agricultural waste, so our goal has been to find a novel way to extract and use it.
BREAD OF THE NATION
That is why we have a launched a first-of-its-kind innovation that will see by-products of our beer brewing process turned into bread that is high in fibre, sustainable and a source of protein.
Dubbed “Bread of the Nation” the by-product will be repurposed to produce approximately 30 000 loaves for South African communities. We have teamed up with SA Harvest, a food-rescue organisation and hunger relief, which will use its footprint and partnerships to distribute the bread. This innovation contributes meaningfully to our zero-waste and sustainability commitments and our ongoing drive to reduce carbon emissions and minimise the impact of operations on the environment.
From savoury bread to banana bread, baking has become popular and brings families, communities and even nations together.
HUNGER RELIEF
According to the report Measuring Food Security in South Africa: Applying the Food Insecurity Experience Scale by Statistics South Africa, almost 23.6% of South Africans in 2020 were affected by moderate to severe food insecurity, while almost 14.9% experienced severe food insecurity.
Also the United Nations World Food Programme says the number of hungry people around the world has shot up from 282 million to around 345 million since the beginning of 2022.
Our partners, SA Harvest remind us that food waste in South Africa exceeds 10.3 million tonnes a year, while 20 million people experience food insecurity every day. Due to increased urbanisation there is an increased need to provide ready prepared products, as people have less time and space to grow and prepare their own food and Castle Lager’s Bread of the Nation is one of the answers.
“We are extremely grateful to Castle Lager and SA Harvest for the bread donation, which enabled us to offer support to a local children and elderly people,” said Alice Modiri of Londani Lushaka in Alexandra township.
“Our beneficiaries have come to rely on the food parcels which has created happier homes and helped to reduce crime in the area,” said Modiri who said the donation of loaves of bread benefited 1 300 people on the day SA Harvest and Castle Lager representatives were in the township.
As Lionel Poilane, a French baker and entrepreneur whose commitment to crafting quality bread earned him worldwide renown, once said, “Bread deals with living things, with giving life, with growth, with the seed, the grain that nurtures. It is not coincidence that we say bread is the staff of life.”
* Wendy Bedforth is Brand Director for Castle Lager.