# How Common is Bread in Different Cultures?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 8, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837 "2013-12-08T17:57:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/1 "2013-12-08T17:57:25Z")
How common is bread in different cultures? How does how bread is made vary? In cultures which seldom use bread what are the alternatives?
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### Author:  [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/2 "2013-12-08T18:03:51Z")
What class is this for?? Reads JUST like some soc101 question but not sure.
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### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/3 "2013-12-08T18:24:35Z")
There’s only one bread culture: Yeastaria. It is from here that bread was brought forth out of the darkness and it is back here where it shall return
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/4 "2013-12-08T18:29:41Z")
Soc101 or Anth101, for sure.
Do your own homework, punk.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/5 "2013-12-08T18:38:55Z")
Not common at all. The Blactoofs peoples on the volcanic islands in the Pacific made a paste of ground stone and salt water that they heated on lava rocks. The people of The Caucuses used caulk.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/6 "2013-12-08T19:37:54Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> There’s only one bread culture: Yeastaria. It is from here that bread was brought forth out of the darkness and it is back here where it shall return
“Oceanaria has always been at war with Yeastaria.”
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/7 "2013-12-08T20:02:14Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> “Oceanaria has always been at war with Yeastaria.”
That wasn’t a war. It was just an uprising.
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/8 "2013-12-08T20:16:08Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> That wasn’t a war. It was just an uprising.
😃
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/9 "2013-12-08T20:27:20Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> That wasn’t a war. It was just an uprising.
I’ve always found that theory half baked.
Do you have any [proof](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofing_(baking_technique))?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/10 "2013-12-08T20:42:42Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> I’ve always found that theory half baked.
> Do you have any [proof](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofing_(baking_technique))?
Just like any rebellion, millions of sleepers waiting to be activated.
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/11 "2013-12-08T21:41:25Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Not common at all. The Blactoofs peoples on the volcanic islands in the Pacific made a paste of ground stone and salt water that they heated on lava rocks. The people of The Caucuses used caulk.
Indeed.
Don’t forget that the usage of bread in various cultures is a function of altitude, flatbreads are common in the low altitudes, but peoples in hilly regions would use yeast and rising breads. This was primarily so that the bread was tall enough to eat. Many highland cultures died out because of their refusal to switch from flatbreads after a migration or diaspora.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/12 "2013-12-08T21:48:40Z")
:rolleyes:
Apparently being snarky trumps fighting ignorance here.
Anywhere people have learned to exploit the nutrients in cereal seeds with fermentation and/or the addition of useful chemicals, bread can exist. It takes a lot of different forms, though. One bread can be rather unlike another.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/13 "2013-12-08T21:55:38Z")
You do know it’s against the rules to ask the board to do your homework for you, right?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/14 "2013-12-08T22:11:30Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> :rolleyes:
>
> Apparently being snarky trumps fighting ignorance here.
You did homework for football players in high school to keep from getting beaten up, didn’t you? 😉
I _assign_ homework. I don’t _do_ homework. And most importantly, I don’t do _someone else’s_ homework.
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/15 "2013-12-08T22:55:29Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#):
>
> :rolleyes:
>
> Apparently being snarky trumps fighting ignorance here.
> .
Yes, yes it does.
To answer the question I can’t think of any culture off hand that did not have some form of bread, even cultures that don’t have grain can make a sort of bread out of starchy root tubers(manioc etc).
Maybe Inuit?
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### Author:  [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/16 "2013-12-09T02:31:48Z")
But isn’t yeast a [culture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_culture)all it’s own?
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/17 "2013-12-09T06:48:13Z")
Actually after I posted this I checked Wikipedia (which was the obvious place I should have checked first):
> **[Bread](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread)**
>
> Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.
> Bread may be leavened by naturally occurring microbes (e.g. sourdough), chemicals (e.g. baking soda), industrially pr...
Sorry.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/18 "2013-12-09T08:09:34Z")
> [@grude](#):
>
> To answer the question I can’t think of any culture off hand that did not have some form of bread, even cultures that don’t have grain can make a sort of bread out of starchy root tubers(manioc etc).
Southern African Bantu cultures were no strangers to yeast fermentation (making both grain beers and honey meads) but never developed a local bread AFAIK - grain was just eaten as stiff polenta-like porridges, originally using sorghum and millet, and later maize.
Did the Japanese have any breads?
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### Author:  [@storyguide3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyguide3)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/19 "2013-12-10T00:56:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Did the Japanese have any breads?
The answer seems to be that until the Portugese came, wheat was used for noodles but not bread. The Japanese word for bread, pan, comes from the Portugese.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-bread-in-different-cultures/675837/20 "2013-12-10T01:00:30Z")
Not having a traditional bread/baking background the Japanese have enthusiastically adapted the baking traditions of the French. I can honestly say some of the best baguettes and croissants I’ve ever had were in Kyoto. If you’re ever near the Kyoto Royal hotel stop in the coffee shop and have a cup of coffee and buy a croissant from the counter just outside the entrance to the coffee shop, you won’t be sorry.
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