Changes

Bread in Western societies is perhaps one of the most symbolically important foods. Given its early developed even before the rise of agriculture, and that it became the primary staple food in the Middle East and Europe as agriculture developed, demonstrates that bread has played a central role in societal change. The production of wheat, barley, and other grains developed to make breads. Beer became the way in which the longevity of bread could be extended, where moldy bread could be used to make beer. Different societies with different primary grains used different forms of breads, such as millet-based flat bread or corn-based tortillas. Bread technologies largely did not change until the 19th and 20th centuries, when automation was introduced to speed up the production of foods. One major developed was the introduction of sliced bread. More recent changes have been the creation of doughs that can rise faster by adding chemicals to the dough that catalyze the action of yeast. Despite these changes, bread has retained its centrality as a primary food for most Western societies today.