Sliced bread

[Soup]

We’ve all heard something wonderful described as “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. My question is, was sliced bread considered a big deal when it was first introduced?

[Ursa_Major]

According to etymologist Christine Ammer, who devotes an entire chapter to bread in “Fruitcakes and Couch Potatoes,” her dandy collection of the stories behind hundreds of food- based figures of speech, “the greatest thing since sliced bread” probably originated in the American armed forces in the middle of the 20th century.

http://www.greenapple.com/~words1/back-h.html

The advent of sliced bread must have been a sensation of some kind for it to spawn such a widely used expression. Might try looking at grocery ads in '30s and 40’s newspapers for a definitive answer.