Short Stuff: The Best Episode Since Sliced Bread

Summary

Stuff You Should Know: Short Stuff – The Best Episode Since Sliced Bread
Hosted by Josh and Chuck | Released January 22, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of "Stuff You Should Know," hosts Josh and Chuck delve into the fascinating history behind one of the most ubiquitous household items: sliced bread. Titled "Short Stuff: The Best Episode Since Sliced Bread," the episode explores the invention, challenges, and lasting impact of pre-sliced bread, all while weaving in humor and engaging discussions.

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The Significance of Sliced Bread

Chuck begins by highlighting the commonly used phrase, "the best thing since sliced bread," emphasizing its place in everyday language despite sliced bread being a relatively recent innovation compared to the ancient origins of bread itself.

Chuck (00:52): "You've heard the term, of course, the best thing since sliced bread. And oddly enough. Well, not oddly, but sliced bread has been around less than 100 years. Even though bread has been around for tens of thousands of years."

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Historical Context: From Ancient Grains to Sliced Loaves

Josh and Chuck provide a brief overview of bread's long history, speculating on its original purpose, such as making beer portable. They acknowledge that for millennia, bread was torn or cut at home rather than pre-sliced, setting the stage for the revolutionary change that sliced bread would bring.

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Otto Frederick Rohwitter: The Innovator

The centerpiece of the discussion is Otto Frederick Rohwitter, an inventor who is credited with pioneering the sliced bread revolution. Despite not being in the food industry—Rohwitter was a jeweler with an ophthalmology degree—their entrepreneurial spirit led him to develop the first bread-slicing machine.

Josh (03:08): "He's a… history.com, our old friends at howstuffworks.com and the surprisingly instructive gold medalbakery.com I also want to shout."

Rohwitter's dedication spanned over a decade, starting in 1917, and despite setbacks like a devastating office fire in 1928 that destroyed his prototypes and blueprints, he persevered.

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Challenges in Introducing Sliced Bread

The initial attempts at sliced bread were far from perfect. The early machines produced messy, uneven slices that were difficult to package and prone to falling apart. Rohwitter's unconventional solution involved using hat pins to hold the slices together—an idea that was quickly dismissed by baker Gustav Papendik.

Josh (04:34): "He stuck a hat pin in them. And then part of the instruction was to take the hat pin out just far enough so that you could take some however many slices you wanted from it and then push the hat pin back in. And everybody was like, that's a terrible idea."

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Gustav Papendik’s Improvements

Enter Gustav Papendik, a baker who recognized the potential of sliced bread but saw the flaws in Rohwitter's initial design. Papendik enhanced the slicing process by ensuring the bread stayed intact and fresher longer, eliminating the need for impractical solutions like hat pins. His improvements were pivotal in making pre-sliced bread viable for widespread use.

Josh (08:34): "He was like, no, no, no. We'll have it wrapped so that by the time it comes out of the slicer, this loaf isn't falling apart and it's wrapped for freshness."

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Adoption and Impact on Bakeries

The collaboration between Rohwitter and bakers like Frank Bench of the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri marked the commercial introduction of sliced bread. Bench, facing bankruptcy, took a significant risk by investing in the slicer machine, which ultimately led to a 2000% increase in sales once his bakery began offering pre-sliced loaves.

Chuck (15:14): "He sold his patent rights to a company called the Micro Westo Company in Iowa. He led the Rovetta bakery machine division, selling these things to more and more bakeries."

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Wartime Ban and Public Reaction

During World War II, the U.S. government, under Food Administrator Claude Wickard, temporarily banned sliced bread as part of wartime conservation efforts. Wickard cited the increased use of paraffin wax, needed for other wartime purposes, as a reason. However, public backlash was swift and fierce, led primarily by homemakers who had come to rely on the convenience of sliced bread. The pressure was so intense that Wickard quickly reversed his decision.

Chuck (13:12): "He ordered a ban on sliced bread in particular. Not bread, not anything else, just sliced bread. And his reasoning was you have to use thicker wax paper to keep pre sliced bread fresh because there's a lot of holes in it now."

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Legacy of Sliced Bread

Sliced bread not only transformed the baking industry but also ingrained itself into the cultural lexicon as a symbol of convenience and innovation. The partnership between Rohwitter and Papendik ensured that sliced bread became a staple in households across America, simplifying daily routines and becoming a beloved standard.

Josh (15:35): "Frank Bench was a baker on the verge of bankruptcy and just decided to take a chance and pay his friend for this machine. And number two, before Gustav Papendick came along, Otto's solution to these floppy, flimsy, like, falling apart loaves of bread was to stick a hat pin in them."

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Notable Quotes

• Chuck (00:52): "You've heard the term, of course, the best thing since sliced bread. And oddly enough. Well, not oddly, but sliced bread has been around less than 100 years."

• Josh (03:08): "Otto, he was an inventor. And I don't. I didn't see anywhere where he got the idea to do this, but just suddenly sat up one day, he's like, slowly, sliced bread. We should make sliced bread."

• Josh (07:57): "He sold that first slicer to a guy named a friend of his named Frank Bench, who was a baker in Missouri at a place called the Chillicothe Baking Company."

• Chuck (13:48): "He put on his canvas wax. His wax canvas field jacket and he marched out of the room."

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Conclusion

In "Short Stuff: The Best Episode Since Sliced Bread," Josh and Chuck unravel the intriguing story of how sliced bread became a household staple. From Otto Frederick Rohwitter's inventive spark and perseverance to Gustav Papendik's crucial improvements, the episode highlights how sliced bread revolutionized everyday life. Their engaging narrative, enriched with humor and insightful commentary, makes the history of sliced bread both informative and entertaining for listeners.

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For more engaging and informative episodes, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Josh]

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital1.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC hey and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here sitting in for days. So this is an official bonafide short stuff.

[Chuck]

That's right. Big thanks to historyofbread.com history.com, our old friends at howstuffworks.com and the surprisingly instructive gold medalbakery.com I also want to shout.

[Josh]

Out Mental Floss and Zachary Crockett on Priceonomics.

[Chuck]

Great, because this is about sliced bread. You've heard the term, of course, the best thing since sliced bread. And oddly enough. Well, not oddly, but sliced bread has been around less than 100 years. Even though bread has been around for tens of thousands of years.

[Josh]

Yeah, I think in either a bread episode or a beer episode, we explored whether or not bread was created to make beer portable or a beer starter portable. But regardless, it's been around for a very, very long time. And yet you say 30,000 years.

[Chuck]

I said tens of thousands. But yeah, that's a little more specific.

[Josh]

Okay, let's say bread was invented 30,000 years ago. It took 29,900 years before this point for somebody to think of pre sliced bread or if they thought of it, to actually follow through with that idea. And we have a hero, a hero named Otto Frederick Rohwater to thank for that. We'll meet him in a minute.

[Chuck]

Yeah, so I mean, you can listen to our bread episode. We don't need to go over all that. But suffice it to say, for 29,900 years, ish, people were generally tearing off chunks of bread. That's where we get the term breaking bread. There were sandwiches. I believe the first like credit for the real sandwich goes to Rabbi Hillel the Elder, who put lamb and bitter herbs in between two pieces of matzo the Hillel sandwich. And then in 1840, woman Miss Leslie Eliza Leslie published Directions for Cookery in which she talked about what's thought to believe be like the first ham sandwich where she talks about cutting slices of bread very neatly. So people were slicing their bread at home. It's not like they Were like, I want to make a sandwich, but I just tear it off in these big chunks. And I don't understand.

[Josh]

Right.

[Chuck]

People were home slicing bread to make sandwiches. But that all changed on July 7, 1928, right?

[Josh]

Yeah. Because that guy I mentioned before, Otto Frederick Rohwitter, the father of sliced bread, he had been tinkering with this for well over a decade, Right?

[Chuck]

Rovetta.

[Josh]

He was a.

[Chuck]

It's got to be German.

[Josh]

It has to be. Well, his name's Otto Frederick first. I mean, those are your first two clues. And then they really kind of drive it home on the third name.

[Chuck]

Then auf Deutsch.

[Josh]

He. No, he was.

[Chuck]

You're not gonna do it.

[Josh]

What the Roe. Vedder.

[Chuck]

I just want you to say it German.

[Josh]

Otto Friedrich Roevetter.

[Chuck]

Yeah, there you go.

[Josh]

I didn't even know I could roll my R's.

[Chuck]

You're calling him Roheder.

[Josh]

Well, I'm, you know, from Georgia, in Ohio, in Florida.

[Chuck]

All right, all right.

[Josh]

So anyway, OT or wait. Ofr. What's that? It's his initials. I'm trying to think of something else to call him that you won't make fun of me for. How about Otto? So Otto, he was an inventor. And I don't. I didn't see anywhere where he got the idea to do this, but just suddenly sat up one day, he's like, slowly, sliced bread. We should make sliced bread. So you can just go buy. Store. Buy at the store. Pre sliced bread. And he got to work making a machine all the way back in 1917. But you mentioned it wasn't until 1928 that people started being able to buy pre sliced bread at the store. And that's because he got pretty far, got a prototype developed, had all these blueprints for making this machine, and there was a fire at his office that just wiped everything out.

[Chuck]

That's right. It's very sad. And it took him a long time to get back up to speed. I do think we should point out that this guy was a jeweler. He was not in the food business at all. He had a ophthalmology degree, yet he became a jeweler and had three jewelry stores that he owned. But he was an inventor, and he would sell those jewelry stores. And that's what financed his, I guess, just strange idea to slice and package bread.

[Josh]

Yeah. And I mean, think about how just normal that seems now. Just to imagine that somebody had to have that idea at one point. And then we know the person who did. His name is Otto. I just find that fascinating that's right, Mr. Rowitter, if you want to put it like that.

[Chuck]

Should we take a break?

[Josh]

Yes.

[Chuck]

All right. I'll be right back.

[Josh]

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1na member FDIC here.

[Jerry]

At Life Kit, NPR's self help podcast, we love the idea of helping you make meaningful lifestyle changes. Our policy is to never be too punishing on yourself or too grand in your goals, which is why we've got shows on how to make little nudges to your behavior and create habits that that stick. Listen to the Life Kit podcast on iHeartRadio.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh]

Stuff you should know. Stuff you should know. So Otto had that fire in 1917 and he kept working at it. And 11 years later he had a working machine that was pumped by foot. I saw like a sewing machine of the era, and it was two sets of very sharp blades, some going up, some going down at the same time. And a loaf of bread would come from a top down a ramp past the blades and come out the bottom of the machine, sliced, but kind of a mess. They were just kind of laying all over the place. And a loafish shape, but really a pretty messy loafish shape.

[Chuck]

Yeah, they were half inch slices because he did a lot of research and came up with a half inch as sort of like the perfect uniform width for a piece of bread for a sandwich or whatever else you want to do with it, I guess.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Chuck]

And he sold that first slicer to a guy named a friend of his named Frank Bench, who was a baker in Missouri at a place called the Chillicothe Baking Company. And that was the first one sold. The second was sold to another baker named Gustav Papendik and this is the guy who improved it. He was like, hey, you got these slices that are coming out, but they're all falling apart. He came up with a way to slice it where they stayed packaged together, they stayed fresher longer, and it just made the wrapping process much easier. So he improved upon it.

[Josh]

Yeah, for sure. So two things. Frank Bench was a baker on the verge of bankruptcy and just decided to take a chance and pay his friend for this machine. And number two, before Gustav Poppendick came along, Otto's solution to these floppy, flimsy, like, falling apart loaves of bread was to stick a hat pin in them. And then part of the instruction was to take the hat pin out just far enough so that you could take some however many slices you wanted from it and then push the hat pin back in. And everybody was like, that's a terrible idea. What else you got? And luckily, Papendick was like, no, no, no. We'll have it wrapped so that by the time it comes out of the slicer, this loaf isn't falling apart and it's wrapped for freshness. It was a great, great improvement because without it, sliced bread would have gone nowhere, basically.

[Chuck]

Yeah. I wonder if Rovetter was like, have you seen a King Cake? They got a freaking plastic baby in those things, right? You can deal with a hat pin, right?

[Josh]

You're not gonna choke on a hat pin, but 18 people a year choke on a King Cake, baby.

[Chuck]

It wouldn't surprise me. So the reference, the first reference to sliced bread and print, apparently, was in 1928, when that local paper from Frank Bench's Bread Company there in Missouri had an article that said, sliced bread is made here. That was the headline. I'm sorry, it was an advertisement. Sliced bread is made here. And they are, of course, the home of the original sliced bread there in Missouri, which is quite a claim to fame, I'm sure. But when this stuff came out, it wasn't like everyone was like, oh, my God, this is the best thing since. You know, since whatever the previous best thing was, People are like, this is weird. Cause they had been slicing their own bread. They didn't know what to think about it. They had to convince people to get on board, to get bakeries on board. And who got on board was generally homemakers, which at the time was largely women. These women who were packing lunches for husbands and kids, they were like, this is incredible. You have no idea how much easier this is. And I don't have kids arguing about different size slices. And Johnny's thing is bigger than me. And this sandwich looks janky because the bread slopes at the end. And I got a small piece and a big piece and it's made everything quick and streamline my routine. And this is the new best thing.

[Josh]

Right. And to help them out, I think Wonder Bread first came out. It was, I think, the first sliced bread nationally available or widely available, and it became the most popular. And originally it was called Wonder Cut because it came pre sliced and they shortened it to Wonder Bread. But I was like, seriously, how much of a time saver is this? And then I read a quote from a woman who was upset. We'll talk about why she was upset in a minute. But she makes a really good case that, like, if you're having to slap together sandwiches really quickly for your family's lunches before they go out the door, and you're also cutting bread to make toast for them at the same time, like, you might have to slice 30 slices of bread really quick. And that's actually kind of time consuming. So if you can buy pre sliced bread, that's going to save you some time and effort and it actually is worth it. So I finally wrap my head around how much of a time saver sliced bread actually is.

[Chuck]

Yeah, I got six kids, I got a husband, I got a divorced neighbor who doesn't understand how to make a sandwich.

[Josh]

Art.

[Chuck]

Yeah, Art's divorce. He doesn't know how to make a sandwich. Everyone wants toast. Everyone wants sandwiches. You can't take this away from us.

[Josh]

No. And they tried to, didn't they?

[Chuck]

Yeah. I mean, didn't the government step in and literally try to stop sliced bread?

[Josh]

Yes. So as part of the wartime conservation in the United States for World War II, Claude R. Wickert, who was the U.S. food Administrator, I think it's vicard. Sorry. You're probably right. But I'm going to call him Claude Wickard. He ordered a ban on sliced bread in particular. Not bread, not anything else, just sliced bread. And his reasoning was you have to use thicker wax paper to keep pre sliced bread fresh because there's a lot of holes in it now. There's a lot of extra surface area to go stale. So that means you're using more paraffin and God knows what else they were trying to use paraffin for probably waterproofing stuff like clothing and things like that at the time.

[Chuck]

Yeah.

[Josh]

So they needed the paraffin. And at the same time they're also like, the price of grain is about to go up and we don't want bakers to Be able to use sliced bread prices, which is more expensive to hide, passing on higher grain prices. So we're just going to say you can't have sliced bread. And Claude Wickard walked away whistling and, like, dusting his hands off. And he thought that was it. And he ran into America's homemakers who surged up like a tidal wave of angry people wearing aprons came after him. And he ended up backing down pretty quick.

[Chuck]

Yeah. He put on his canvas wax. His wax canvas field jacket and he marched out of the room.

[Josh]

His veild vacate.

[Chuck]

Thank you for getting on board. So back to Rovetta. He sold his patent rights to a company called the Micro Westo Company in Iowa. I think we didn't mention he was. I think he was from Iowa. Right?

[Josh]

Davenport.

[Chuck]

Yeah. And he actually was one of those deals where you sell the patent rights, but then you come on board as a sort of spokesman and salesperson. So he led the Rovetta bakery machine division, selling these things to more and more bakeries. But he never became like some huge name. I think there are many, many more inventors of very common items that are much more well known. He lived a very quiet life in Louisiana, and I think he retired in 71 and passed away at what, close to 80?

[Josh]

His age was close to 80.

[Chuck]

Yeah.

[Josh]

As opposed to what died in 1980.

[Chuck]

Oh, okay, I got you. Yeah.

[Josh]

Close to 80.

[Chuck]

I don't know what year it was, though. Do you know?

[Josh]

I don't, as a matter of fact. But we could kind of guess he lived. He was 1960. There it is right there. I was going to do some math. Luckily I was bailed out at the last minute.

[Chuck]

Yeah. So there you have it with sliced bread. Right.

[Josh]

Yeah. Well, there's one other thing. There's an extra happy end to this story. That guy Frank Bench, the nearly bankrupt baker who took a chance on his friend Otto, who and his new machine, his sales increased by 2000% when he started selling sliced bread. And he was saved.

[Chuck]

Wow.

[Josh]

Yeah. Pretty cool.

[Chuck]

That's amazing. I think it's pronounced bich.

[Josh]

I hope, I really hope that Otto's like, great grandson Tim writes in and he's like, it's roe weather.

[Chuck]

Well, it may have been since they were in Iowa, a lot of people, you know, change their very German or French or whatever pronounced names to more American sounding.

[Josh]

Sure.

[Chuck]

Like Clark. What was Clark?

[Josh]

Flark Flock.

[Chuck]

I think Bryant was probably O'Brient at some point.

[Josh]

No, Clark was Clark. It's a derivative of clerk. So I come from a long line of pencil pushers.

[Chuck]

Oh, how weirdly inappropriate.

[Josh]

I agree. I'm glad you said that. Thank you. Yeah, I guess Short Stuff's out.

[Jerry]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.