Every time you bite into bread, you’re taking part in something ANCIENT.

In this episode, we go deep on bread as the ultimate “never just food” food.

We’re talking what early bread looked like, how bread evolved through civilizations, and the science behind why yeast bread and sourdough taste and behave differently. Then we zoom out to the cultural side of bread, including why it shows up everywhere, and how it’s often tied to hospitality.

In this episode:

• The oldest evidence of bread making (before agriculture was even a thing)

• What early bread likely looked like

• Bread in Ancient Egypt and what we’ve learned from scientific analysis of preserved loaves

• Pompeii’s carbonized loaves

• Fermentation 101

• Yeast vs sourdough, and why sourdough can taste so different

• Bread as culture and hospitality

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References mentioned in the episode:

• Arranz-Otaegui, A. et al. (2018). Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan. PNAS.

• Samuel, D. (1996). Investigation of Ancient Egyptian baking and brewing methods by correlative microscopy.Science.

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Cereals and other starch-based staples: are consumption patterns changing? FAO.

• Engström, N. et al. (2015). Sourdough fermentation of wheat flour does not prevent the interaction of transglutaminase 2 with α2-gliadin or gluten.

• Mesta-Corral, M. et al. (2024). Technological and nutritional aspects of bread production. Nutrients.