Talk:White bread

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Contents 1 Diabetes? 2 Condemnation of white bread 3 Prevalence of white bread preference 4 More popular? 5 is white bread really all that unusual?

[edit] Diabetes?

"Blood sugar and insulin regulation provided by whole grains may prevent Type 2 diabetes." is not well supported by its citation. The standard for health claims is higher because there's so much disinformation out there already. Mbac 19:07, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Condemnation of white bread

As long as it has existed, white bread has been condemned by dietary reformers as essentially devoid of nutritive value beyond the calories that it provides. No. This is not true. Siegfried Giedion, Mechanization takes Command detailed the industrialization of white bread, starting in 19th century France. Haven't seen my old copy in decades... --Wetman 06:35, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It is seen as a major element in a prototypically American diet, and as a sterotypical element in American culture (see below). -- that's a bit US-centric, isn't it? Could we say something more general about it culturally, or cover more than just the US view? -- Tarquin 08:57, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Prevalence of white bread preference

"White bread" is also a slang term used in either a derisive or jocular manner to describe white mainstream American culture, due to the percieved affinity for the product of white people.

Can it possibly be true that only Whites, among all the US racial groups, are statistically likely to prefer white bread to other kinds of bread? --Dpr 05:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

I suspect exactly the opposite, that Whites eat more whole grain bread than most groups, but Cuchullain's claim is not about preferences but about a perceived affinity. Still, I agree with you in doubting the claim. I suspect that most users of the phrase have in mind (besides obviously the color) things like ubiquity, blandness, and a sense of being the default. Many users likely also have in mind things like unhealthiness, poor quality, and maybe a sense of being a false luxury for the deluded working class, or that white bread is eaten only by those people without sufficiently wide experience to recognize the advantages of whole grain bread (perhaps representing cultural diversity).

Of course this is only my free supposition. I don't use the phrase, because it strikes me as disrespectful. I've merely heard it enough times to have formed some guesses as to what people meant when they were using it. I have no real evidence for my guesses, and wouldn't put them in an encyclopedia.

I would prefer that the entire paragraph be struck for being a combination of dictionary material and unverified supposition, irrelevant to an article on bread. The bar for relevance and verifiability should be higher for sensitive topics.

— Pekinensis 15:59, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

I have removed the paragraph. — Pekinensis 23:29, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Pekinensis. Was it moved to Wiktionary? If it has widespread use it deserves to be on Wikipedia, but mere only a strictly slang page or article on stereotypes. I feel your analysis seems pretty correct (cf. also [plain] vanilla). Intriguing though. Thanks for concerning yourself with maintaining a certain standard of respect and intellect on WP's pages. --Dpr 23:35, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More popular?

Isn't wide bread more popular than wheat bread? Especially when marketed towards young children, they like the taste of it better. Plus the fact that it's easier to digest makes it more suitable for a first food for children to eat. Therefore making it aimed more towards children than wheat bread. I beleive I've even heard of brands like Wonderbread going as far as adding the vitamins and nutrients of wheat bread to white bread. -Acoustica 06:15, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] is white bread really all that unusual?

I mean, a million varieties of foreign bread are white, and I doubt that's bleached flour. I saw Africans in some poor country making flatbread cooked on a dung wall oven, and it was as white as a white flour tortilla. Also, baguettes! Every baguette I've ever seen was white. And pretzels too. White flour simply can't be all that new-fangled or artificial when most normal bread products are made primarily from it and not "wheat" bread. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 05:47, 17 February 2007 (UTC).

It's approximately the same deal with white rice. It's naturally brown, but billions of people prefer it bleached.