History of the Bread Basket

Is this bread still good?

Bread is one of the oldest staples of the human diet. Some researchers hypothesize that as far back as 7,500 years ago, man was making cakes from ground wheat and barley. That's long before the Earl of Sandwich came along with his famous eponymous invention. In fact, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs have been found depicting not only grains used to made bread, but loaves of bread themselves.

A loose definition

What we now think of as a bread basket is thought to have come along soon after the invention of its namesake foodstuff. Most people think of a basket as a vessel made of natural woven material, and that indeed is its proper definition. But a bread basket needn't be confined to such as strict meaning.

A bread basket is simply any concave object used for holding or carrying bread. As technology developed and man began to forge metal, baskets were made from these new materials.

La-di-da

As with most possessions, bread baskets became status symbols for the wealthy. In the 18th and 19th centuries, gold and silver were popular materials for the bread baskets of the aristocracy. While these rarely resembled a traditional basket, they were nevertheless an important part of dining accoutrements for those who could afford them.

Basket technology

Today, bread baskets are as varied as ever. There are large and small woven baskets, as well as more ornately designed ones made of metal or ceramic.

One of the most useful and popular recent advances in bread baskets comes in the form of the bread basket warmer, or heated bread basket. These usually include what is known as a warming stone. This stone (which is not always an actual stone, but sometimes an attractive piece of ceramic) is heated in the oven or microwave, depending on the instructions, and then laid at the bottom of the basket. Some of these baskets come with a specially made napkin which helps to hold the heat in. After five or ten minutes in the oven, a warming stone can keep your bread warm for the duration of the meal.

More information on bread baskets