Monday 30 July 2012

Bread crusts

In a radio advert I heard recently, its primary voice actor said something about "not throwing their bread crusts away". While it was obviously said humorously within the context of the advert (I don't remember what the advert was about, but that is immaterial to the purposes of this post), it did get me thinking: why do people often throw the crusts of bread away?

The crust is not any less edible, less tasty, or even less healthy (as far as I'm aware) than the rest of the loaf, yet a significant amount of people seem to not bother eating it. I performed a Google search and it brought up some discussions on the subject of throwing away bread crusts, and among the reasons for not eating the crusts were that they're dry, likely to fall apart, pure dislike of the end pieces, and even because the crusts "are not a symbol of wealth".

None of the above rationales are convincing to me. Too dry? They can be toasted. Fall apart? Doesn't make them inedible. Merely dislike them because they're the ends? Same. Not a symbol of wealth? Neither is soup but plenty of people eat that. When there are millions of people starving in the world I think these are fairly poor reasons to not eat something as simple as bread crusts. Even feeding the crusts to birds or ducks is a better choice than throwing them away, in my opinion.

As for me, I eat the crusts as they are still a part of the bread even if they are the end pieces. There are plenty of options for them: for some examples they are nice with jam spread on top, used for cheese on toast, peanut butter is a good choice; and yes, I will also eat them without any sort of topping. Crusts are good: utilise them! Be creative!

How about you? Do you eat bread crusts?

6 comments:

  1. I like the crust when not toasted. Toasted crust is too crispy and I'm not a big fan of crispy things.

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  2. the crusts are my favorite part! I always take the heel of the bread if I can :)

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  3. I hate the end pieces of bread. But my boyfriend makes sandwiches with them and enjoys them just the same. I like the sponginess of the white part. I do eat the crust though.

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    1. The important thing is that the food isn't wasted. :)

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