Bread is the new hero food, says Bryan Reuben, a professor of chemical technology at London South Bank University.
According to Professor Reuben, as the downturn continues to bite in 2009, consumers will replace foods such as meat, fish and vegetables with bread as a way of cutting costs. And he should know. The 75-year-old has just spent the past two years researching the stuff. His findings are chronicled in a recently published book Bread: A Slice of History, co-authored with South Bank colleague Joan Alcock.
“Bread is a classic ‘inferior’ product: as incomes rise people tend to eat less of it, opting for more premium foods,” he tells People. “Bread consumption had dropped steadily for the past 120 years from about 450g (1lb) per person per day in 1890 to about 100g (3.5oz — or about four slices) today. But in difficult economic times, the reverse applies and that’s why I am forecasting 2009 as the year of the white sliced supermarket loaf.”
The North London-based professor says he came across masses of material on the role of bread in Jewish life while researching the book — much of which is included in a free “Jewish Bread” supplement accompanying the book. “Bread is central to Jewish life. A meal is not a proper meal without it.”
Having written 10 books on the technology and economics of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, Prof Reuben became interested in bread while a research director of the South Bank faculty that included the National Bakery School. “Its head, John Marchant, wanted to do a PhD about technological and economic change and needed a supervisor.
“I knew about process technology and Joan Alcock knew about history, so we jointly supervised the PhD. When it appeared, I thought it would be nice to try to turn it into a popular book rather than publishing in obscure journals.”
