You’ve seen the French sauntering around with slender baguettes under their arms or sporting jaunty berets as they pedal bicycles laden with crusty bread.
Those cinematic scenes are nice, but when you really get down to business — as my countrymen are inclined to do — it’s obvious that the world’s best bread comes from Germany, according to CNN news.
It said Germans have more varieties of bread than most other countries.
According to the bread register of the German Institute for Bread, there are now more than 3,200 officially recognized types of bread in the country. German bread culture was officially added by UNESCO to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2015.
A key German term rests upon those hearty loaves: one of the words for work is Broterwerb, literally “gaining one’s bread.”
Bread is a staple for most meals in Germany: at breakfast, break-time (sometimes called Pausenbrot, or “break bread”) and dinner or Abendbrot, literally the “bread of the evening.”
“It sells like sliced bread” is a German proverb describing fast-selling items.
Bread even stars on TV: a talking loaf named Bernd has become a popular character among German children. The comedy series “Bernd das Brot.” hosted by the titular character, began airing on the children’s channel KI.KA since 2000.
One of the reasons for this immense variety in bread products is the fragmented history of Germany up until the 19th century.
Until then, what is known as Germany now was a cluster of hundreds of small duchies or kingdoms, all with their own distinct culture and dialect, and with their own bread.
So, bread has evolved in Germany from a staple food to a strong symbol of cultural and historical identity, and a source of national pride no less valuable than any of its famous landmarks.
