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In Western societies, bread has come to symbolize the primary food that God has given us. Bread and life are intertwined as being seen as being part of each other. The utility of bread to societies in the Old and New World has evolved significantly, where different grains became important and those grains were used to form different types of breads. However, some of the important qualities of bread were likely accidental discoveries, while others still only developed much later.
Molds growing on breads were already recognized for their potential medicinal value. This would become the forerunner of penicillin, which was not formally invented until 1933. However, ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, and likely other societies recognized that molds could be used to heal wounds, where moldy bread could be rubbed on wounds to help with the healing process. Bread left to mold, therefore, also became part of medical applications used to clean wounds and infections.<ref>For more on penicillin mold and how it was used in the ancient world, see: Ballen, K. G. (2010). <i>Seven wonders of medicine.</i> Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, pg. 37.</ref>
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The use of seeds, such as wheat or barley, to grow grains that would then become bread helped bread and life giving sustenance to be closely affiliated, most likely already by the Neolithic. The idea that a few seeds can create enough wheat or barley to create a lot of bread symbolized the importance of grains to society with that symbolism closely associated with bread.<ref>For more on the symbolism of bread, including in religion, see: Jacob, H. E. (2007). <i>Six thousand years of bread: its holy and unholy history.</i> New York: Skyhorse Pub.</ref>
==Summary==
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 breadsdemonstrates the variety of grain types that could be used in the bread making process. Beer became the way in which the longevity of bread could be extended, where moldy making it less costly as excess bread could then be used to make put into beermaking production. Different societies with different primary grains Bread has gained a sustenance symbolic link, but it was also used different for medicinal purposes where early forms of breads, such as millet-based flat bread or corn-based tortillaspenicillin developed. 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. <div class="portal" style="width:85%;">==Related DailyHistory.org Articles==*[[How Did Ancient Societies Adapt to Dairy Consumption?]]*[[How Did Honey Evolve in our Diet?]]*[[How Did Black Pepper Spread in Popularity?]]*[[What Factors Led to the Creation of the First Cities?]]*[[How Did Chocolate Become Popular?]]</div>{{mediawiki:Food History}}
==References==
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[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Food History]][[Category:Ancient History]] [[Category:Ancient Egyptian History]]
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