Fried bologna sandwich with melted cheese on light bread
All of the comments on yesterday’s post about light bread were great! Here’s a few that really piqued my interest.
—Terry: “During WWII, my grandpa worked at Oak Ridge; while there he ate and learned to like light bread. On his visits home, he would run me by the general store to pick up needed incidentals. When I got out of the truck, he would always remind me to “put it on the book and get a loaf of that lightening bread”! Although he was an excellent cook and always made great biscuits and corn bread, he had sure developed a like and a hankering for “loaf white bread”! It certainly became something we bought much more often; especially in the summer time when we made tomato sandwiches with a little salad dressing, a mater or two, and light bread! And some of the young’uns found out you could jus’ put sugar on it and it was a pretty tasty treat!”
—I love the phrase lightening bread 🙂
—Jackie Moran: My Grandpa hated light bread, biscuit man 2 times a day. Took my woman up to visit in West Virginia and when Grandma put it on the table he threw it so far out the front door of the farm, he could have signed up for the Olympics! Scared my wife a little. So much for light bread.
—Jackie’s story about his Grandpa made me smile and reminded me of a few stories I heard about men who wouldn’t sit at a table that had a tomato on it 🙂
—Shirl: If we were lucky enough to get a loaf of light bread growing up, we used it for bloney sammages with a big slice of onion or tomato. We never had toast or french toast but fresh churned butter smeared on a piece of light bread made a fine snack. The bread I remember as a child is not available where I live now and may not be available anywhere. I remember Kerns, Sunbeam, and Betsy Ross.
—My favorite light bread today is Sunbeam. I remember Kerns, but not Betsy Ross. Shirl reminded me I used to like to put a smear of butter on a piece of light bread and then sprinkle brown sugar on it for a snack. I often made a mess that Granny got onto me about 🙂
—Linda: When we were raising our son we always used wheat bread. Once when he was about 8 he was staying with a friend and had some white bread and his friend’s mom cut off the crust. He came home declaring that he had the best bread ever! He said it was so soft and had no crust. Intrigued, I called the friends mom to find out what brand of bread she served. She said just plan old Wonder Bread! We laughed so hard! He did the same thing when another friends mom served him some cheese. I asked what was the name of the cheese. He thought for a moment and said…It sounds like Buddha!
—Linda’s story about her son made me smile and reminded me of a time one of the girls’ friends had her mother call me to ask about the hamburgers I made because they were so good. The meat was from a side of beef we had went in with Granny and Pap to buy from Chamber’s meat market.
—Papaw:We got another big frost this morning!
When I was growing up I thought light bread was a luxury. And it might have been! You got me to thinking and you know what that means.⚡
I got to thinking about how light bread got from a bakery into a home. Apparently plastic bread bags didn’t come into being until 1957. Aah 1957, prehistory to you perhaps but well established memories to me.
Pre-sliced bread became a thing in 1928 (according to google). Between then and 1957 what? Google thinks it came in cloth or waxed paper bags. I don’t have a memory of those but we couldn’t afford it anyway, so how could I know.
I also learned that our government stopped the production of sliced bread during WW2 because a shortage of wheat and its need to feed the military (again, according to google). So that’s 29 years, minus the war, of bread in something other than the nice, clean, re-tieable plastic bag we have today.
Has anyone seen one of those pre-1957 bread bags? Or remembers them? Maybe has one stored away? I’d like to see it!
—I didn’t have any answers for Papaw but two of you did.
—Patricia Wilson: I am 77 and I remember light bread coming in waxed paper wrapping. The paper was colorfully printed just as the plastic bags of today are. We called it light bread, too, but I thought “light” referred to the color, not the weight/density. I don’t remember any “dark” bread – like whole wheat, rye, or pumpernickel at the grocery when I was a child, but by the time I was a teenager grocery stores had these “exotic” (to me) breads. We always had cornbread cooked in the black, cast iron skillet – either oven baked or cooked on top of the stove like thick pancakes. I preferred the stove top cornbread and that’s mostly what my mom cooked in the summer to avoid heating up the kitchen.
—Herman Williams: Like others I grew up eating mostly biscuits and cornbread being raised on a farm in the 1940s and 1950s. Occasionally we would have light bread mostly Wonder bread, which we would make bologna sandwiches. In June of each year the church would have homecoming and I looked forward to the ladies from Memphis bringing sandwiches , pimento cheese, pineapple spread and even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. One lady would cut off the crust.
In response to papaw’s comment on wrappers I have a picture of a family gathering in 1939 that has a loaf of Wonder bread on the table and appears to have a waxpaper wrapping with the circles that are on wrappers today. I have a site, family.sbarnes.net, that you can view this. Go to site click on family album, give it a few seconds to load, then on bottom of photo go to time line 2:37:21 and you can view the photo. I am the child on the left in the arms of my mom. I am one year old at this time.
—Herman’s comment about the photo reminded me of old photos I’ve seen of kitchen tables filled with food including a stack of light bread.
I appreciate everyone who left a comment on the light bread post, and if you didn’t read them all yesterday be sure to jump back and read them today.
Tipper
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My oldest brother loved stor bought light bread but when he was in elementary school (before I was born) mother made all the bread. As a single mother she couldn’t afford to buy bread. My brother would take sandwiches in his school lunch & a friend would trade him his sandwich made with store bread for one made with home made bread.
There is nothing better than a fresh loaf of Sunbeam light bread—Wonder Bread is pretty good, too!!!
First off, I will always remember how well my dad loved light bread. He grew up with only home baked bread and the usual large farm breakfast. Once he discovered the new light bread and cereals, this resulted in his lifelong love for cornflakes, oatmeal, and light bread. Most Appalachian cooks I knew catered to the tastes of the hard working men of the day. Not certain how it was in other areas, but men were fed first at gatherings if not enough available chair space for the huge family gatherings. I was surprised during the time I lived in New Orleans, La. to find most people I knew fed the children first. There wasn’t a lot of variation back then, so I tired of cornflakes and oatmeal, but i still love those farm breakfasts of variations of eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, fried bread, and gravy. For a fast snack I do love a fried egg sandwich or a tomato sandwich with mayo on light bread. In the 1940’s when we lived in a Coal Camp, I would often go pick up a loaf of light bread or other fast foods of that era for neighbors. I was paid a nickel by some and a dime by others to walk to either of the 2 close company stores approximately 1-1 1/2 miles away. I liked the Arlington company store better where I could get a Push-up for a dime. There was not a lot of oversight on children back then, but the only injury I received was a BB shot in my left leg from Georgie Trent 🙂 Full of spunk, I threatened him with the police, but had no idea how I would accomplish that. He nervously replied that he was not “aimin’ at me.” It only stung and left a mark, so i never shared that with Mom until I was grown. Hard to believe how cheap things were back then, so guess I am “olde’n dirt” to quote a beloved uncle who was 6 months my senior.
I remember the Riegel Textile Mill company store at Ware Shoals, SC. I also remember the orange sherbert Push-up ice cream if that is what you are referring to. We lived about 13 miles out in the country away from the mill and store, so we didn’t buy very much at the store. Now the company store building is the city hall and police station for the very small town of Ware Shoals. We only got a toy twice a year, Christmas and at this time of year if Daddy got any income tax money back. He would buy use one small toy bought at the company store. There was never a box of cereal in our home when growing up and not very often in my home now. We ate the breakfast you describe and still do. I ate fried egg and bacon sandwiches (2) for my breakfast/dinner today. I joke and say since retiring I have moved up in society and now I often eat brunch instead of breakfast, dinner and supper.
I remember the waxed paper wrappers. Hadn’t thought about them in years!
Everything was wrapped in waxed paper, saltine and graham crackers being my favorite things to “snitch” when alone in the kitchen!
I don’t remember the light bread being in wax paper only later on in plastic bags. As I said yesterday, light/loaf bread was for my Daddy’s sandwich to carry to work, we did not eat toast or cereal when growing up and never had any French toast. His sandwiches would be wrapped in wax paper and carried in a small #4 brown paper sack/bag. He would fold up the wax paper and sack, bring it back home and use it again the next day until it wore out. Every know and then he would buy a few of these paper sacks from the owner of our local country general store for a few pennies.I am going to add this, we were poor but had unmeasurable amounts of love for one another. I am sure my Daddy would drink water at work instead of a soft drink in order to save a dime and sometimes buy me and my sister some type of candy from the canteen. My favorite was a small cardboard box of chocolate covered raisins. I never understood how the chocolate didn’t melt in the summer time. I have seen him come home and pour sweat out of his shoes. He said sometimes it would be well over a hundred degrees during the summer in the department he worked in and there would be containers of salt tablets for the workers to take.
As I was growing up in the Midwest, I remember eating whole wheat bread that my family made. My mother, a night shift nurse, would come home from work, cut a slice or two to toast before going to bed. Can’t say I recall my own brkf much, before heading out the door for school. But throughout the summer, had a light supper. Toasted bread and fruit with a glass of cold milk. Then Mother would send me off to bed so she would be rested for work.
Store bought white light bread appeared one day & mother didn’t look back. Especially in the summer with mater sandwich with Miracle Whip. That was a taste of heaven to me.
Tomatoes & sliced onions were always on the table at my Aunt’s & Grandma’s or Uncle would not take his seat.
Over the years, I would love visiting certain older ladies of the church. Fresh wholesome baked wheat bread seemed to always be coming out of the oven. And after the visit was over, a small loaf would be a departing gift. Like the bread of life, it was the gift of Love.
i remember the waxed paper bags. growing up in san francisco we called it “bread”. there was bread, french bread, and pepperidge farm. period. (pepperidge farm may have been more into the 60s, idk…)
You reminded me of something, Tipper My grandma always had a small plate with a stack of white bread, along with a stick of butter, on the table for supper. A nice memory.
My uncle worked at Oak Ridge when it was being constructed, living on a farm he would carry ham and biscuits for his meals. The guys that lived in surrounding town would have bologna on white bread for their meals. Uncle Frank would swap his ham for their bologna and said he was the winner. I bet the other guys thought they had won also. Maybe just a perspective.
I group up with 9 cousins, all very close in age and all living in the same sm town, and none of our moms worked. Often we’d all be at my grandmas house on a summer day. Once in a great while we’d eat mustard sandwiches! I can’t imagine how that got started. Just one slice of light bread folded in half, for each of us. And one of our favorite memories is that the girl cousins completely covering one of the boys with yellow mustard, all over his chest back and face (the boys never wore shirts in the summer, even a lot of our uncles didn’t wear shirts in the summer.) What memories!
Another member mentioned radish sandwiches, when my sister in law was a teenager (50 years ago) she would eat sandwiches of sliced onions and Duke’s mayonnaise. I would tell her if she kept doing this she would never get a boyfriend. I remember when folks said they would never pay more than one dollar for light bread, now the name brands are three dollars or more around here. I buy the store brands for about $1.50 as long as they are soft. I hate dry coarse light bread. I don’t squeeze the Charmin but do feel/squeeze the light bread commonly called loaf bread in my area.
My father said during the Depression, a treat was bread smeared with lard and sprinkled with sugar. I remember bread wrappers when they were paper. You had to carefully unpeel one of the end stickers that glued it all together. Where I grew up in the Midwest, bread was really never served at the table. It was strictly a commodity for breakfast toast or sandwiches for lunch. No one made biscuits and cornbread was a treat, but mostly it was corn muffins. When bread came in plastic, those bags were saved to be re-used. In winter, they lines our boots.
Light bread at our house growing up was basically for lunch. My mama would toast it and spread it with butter and potted meat or we would eat ‘Boloney’ sandwiches with mayo or mustard. Lots of times, my brother would just eat mayo on light bread when he was hungry after school, and we had no lunch meat. Also, we would eat tomato sandwiches in the summer. I remember once when I was young, and maybe around 10 or 11, we had an older cousin visit us from the city with her little boy. He asked for a piece of white bread with the crust cut off and sugar sprinkled on top. My mama made it for him, but I remember thinking he was a spoiled little kid. We never would have ask our mama to cut off the crust and waste bread, nor would we ask for sugar in it. Lol.
Lots of interesting stories about white (light) bread!
My Grampaw wouldn’t allow tomatoes in the house. He called them “Love Apples” and declared them to be poisonous.
He also wouldn’t allow his grown kids to install indoor plumbing in his house. According to my mother he said “Ain’t NOBODY gonna **** in my house.” He died soon thereafter from a brain tumor. At first Grammaw acquiesced to his wishes and didn’t allow it but eventually gave in. She kept her spring house and outhouse operational though.
I enjoyed all of the stories about white bread. They were so entertaining. Some reminded me of something my mom always ate. We grew white radishes that were super hot! she would slice one up and put it on a slice of Wonder bread that had been slathered in butter. We would watch her eat it thinking how in the world she could eat it. I mean those radishes were HOT! She loved it!
The most interesting thing about my lack of knowledge of light bread is that my father worked in a Merita bakery in Charlotte pre-WW2. I never asked him what he actually did there. Perhaps he put the bread in those same bags I asked about.
“If I had known then what I know now, I’d know more than I know now and wouldn’t have to show my ignorance.” Who said that? Well, I guess it was me!
When my little sister and I were really young (we were the babies out of the 7 kids, a 17 year spread between oldest and youngest), we liked what we called “melted butter”, which was light bread toast, put under the stove broiler just long enough to melt the margarine my mama dotted onto the bread. The bread stayed soft, just like we liked it. I’ve never owned a toaster and still toast my bread under the oven broiler, but to a medium brown (whole wheat bread). Bunny Bread was the popular brand in our area. “That’s what I said — Bunny Bread.” Mama used the emptied plastic bags to store leftover cornbread in.
That’s exactly how my gramma made toast. My sister and I thought it was quite superior to toast made in a toaster. My only complaint was that this gramma didn’t butter all the way to the edges like my other grandmother.
In truth, I prefer the bread I bake which is light bread with honey and egg. However, store-bought, square shaped light bread is a must for grilled cheese, bologna, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And I also love it toasted for an egg sandwich.
My parents grew up in Alabama during the depression, (they said they didn’t notice it much because they were very poor farmers before) I remember my Dad always loving a tomato sandwich on white bread. Every time he fixed one he would remind us how blessed we were to be able to just go to the commissary and buy a loaf of bread. We don’t realize just how “recent” these conveniences are. My parents have been gone since 2008 and 2010, and I still here my Dad’s voice when I make a tomato sandwich.
Ramona, I think your comments about being poor and the depression are true for many of our parents and grandparents that lived in the south, it was probably also true for many others. I was told my wife’s Grandaddy along with his small family at the time had moved from the farm to Greenville, SC . He was operating the elevator at the famous Poinsettia motel when the depression hit and had bought a car and furniture they did not have on the farm. My father in law was the oldest boy and about 6 years old. He said they lost everything, going hungry and would eat any food they might have sitting in the floor. He said his Daddy told him “Son we are going back to the farm, we didn’t have much on the farm but at least we had food and did not go hungry.” His Daddy was a sharecropper for the rest of his life.
I found all the comments so interesting! I grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. We had Wonderbread, but none of these more refined light bread manufacturers. We had a bakery at the foot of the street I grew up on, so I guess we grew up on that bread, and after I move I’d like to try that white bread recipe from Jessica Sowards at the Farmer’s Table Corie showed on her channel. It’s interesting to read about everybody’s bread memories and preferences!!