Water, flour and good yeast , three simple ingredients for a unique product of its kind: bread that also has an international or world day that we celebrate today. Let’s know now why World Bread Day is celebrated on October 16 and some curiosities about this food.
World Bread Day Why is it celebrated on October 16?
To emphasize governments and organizations to do more to ensure food around the world, October 16 marks World Food Day , established in 1981 by FAO, the United Nations Food and Drug Administration. farming. A date that was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of the FAO, founded on October 16, 1945. But to this day is also added the World Bread Day that has been celebrated since 2006.
A day chosen precisely to coincide with that date or day dedicated to food in order to celebrate bread and its history since it is one of the oldest foods that exist, and to encourage people to consume and promote the culture of bread fresh since the consumption of bread has dropped a lot in recent years, because it is always related to being one of the factors that promote obesity in the world when in fact, if bread is eaten in a moderate and well-prepared way It does not have to make us fat but quite the opposite: to be a benefit to our health.
Bread is good for our health
According to data from the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN), bread is rich in complex carbohydrates (starch), low in fat (1 grams per 100 grams) and provides us with proteins, vitamins (K, E and Type B) and minerals like selenium or zinc . According to the WHO, you should eat about 250 grams of bread a day (between 40-50 grams per meal). These data translate into about 90 kg of bread consumed per year , a figure that is far from what is eaten in Spain, although the average is established at just under 35 kilos of bread per year at home and 4.5 kg out of this.
It seems then that also in our country the belief that bread is bad for the diet has permeated a lot, but taking into account that it is one of the first foods in history and that it is also included in the nutritional pyramid that is the base of a good nutrition, we cannot forget the importance of eating bread, although we repeat, without exceeding ourselves and also, looking for bread that is of quality and , if possible, integral.
In this way, this day, which was chosen by the International Bakers Federation (UIB) , can be used to buy quality bread or even to try to make it ourselves at home (as happened during confinement when the bread was became one of the most elaborate foods in the world), but also to learn some curious facts about bread like these that we reveal below.
Fun facts about bread
- The earliest form of bread dates back to 12000 BC. C. and was found in Jordan: cereals were pressed with stones that were used as a grindstone.
- Around 3500 a. Fermentation was discovered in Egypt and then bread took on a new look. In fact, it was they who discovered the true origin of bread and thus earned the nickname “bread eaters.”
- From Egypt to Greece, the Greeks became famous bakers and experts by inventing many different types of bread (with honey, with oil, with milk, etc.).
- In Roman times, wheat was of great value and bread had become a common food. We have precisely the testimony of Plinio on the baking of bread that was introduced in 168 a. C. , by some slaves captured in Macedonia after the defeat of King Perseus.
- In medieval times, each one made their own bread in their own home and it is in this period that it became the fulcrum of Christian rituals, although initially the only ones that had ovens were the monasteries. It was the feudal lords who forced the peasants to make bread in their own home.
- In Rome there is a monument erected to the glory of the bakers : a tower formed by three large vessels in which the bread was allowed to rise. The jars are stacked vertically and horizontally topped by a fresco that shows the operations that make up the bread from the grain to the final product.
- The first bakery was opened in Rome in 15 BC. C. The category of millers (which later became bakers) was established under Trajan (from 98 to 117 AD), met in guilds and began providing bread to the whole community.
