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Who doesn't love Wonder Bread?
With its soft white center and melt-in-your-mouth crust, used in making everything from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to grilled cheese, its been a staple on American tables. And lately it's received celeb endorsement too, making an appearance in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video.
Advertised for the first time on May 21, 1921 -- after Taggart Baking Co. in Indianapolis "spent 1920 perfecting the quintessential American white bread" -- Wonder Bread is still going strong after 90 years on our plates, the Leesville Daily Leader reported.
The bread was named by Elmer Cline who was inspired by the International Balloon Races in Indianapolis. Ever since, the iconic red, yellow and blue balloons have featured prominently on the loaf's packaging, the paper reported.
When Wonder Bread became one of the first sliced loaves on the market in 1930, sales took off and it became the American staple we know today.
Wonder Bread has evolved over the years. Vitamins and minerals were added to help combat diseases like pellagra and beriberi in the 1930s and promoted through the 1960s as a way to build strong bodies.
By the 1990s, Wonder Bread was bought by Hostess and is baked by three companies: Hostess Brands in the United States, George Weston Bakeries in Canada, and Grupo Bimbo in Mexico, the Leader reported.
The brand has several products designed to target different customer segments including: Wonder Kids Bread, a whole-wheat bread fortified with vitamins, Wonder Classic White, Wonder Smartwhite, a 100 percent whole wheat bread "disguised as soft white to please the kids," and Wonder Texas Toast.
While traditionally marketed to children and sponsoring hot-air balloons at festivals to reinforce the brand image, the Wonder Bread now also promotes itself by sponsoring NASCAR racing teams, with clever product placement (that Lady Gaga video) and a "Sandwich Wonder-izer" iPhone app that "enables consumers to create unique sandwich combinations from 120 ingredients," which they can then post on Facebook, the paper reported.
What would your favorite Wonder Bread sandwich have on it?
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6-01-2010 @2:22PM Carrie said... When I was growing up, Mama always made fresh hot biscuits for breakfast and supper. My Dad's comment about Wonder bread was, "the wonder is how anybody can eat it." I am in my 70's now and I still don't buy Wonder bread.
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6-01-2010 @2:38PM Phoenix said... My dad calls Wonder Bread "mattress stuffing." Whenever I see Wonder Bread in the stores it always makes me laugh!
6-01-2010 @5:13PM Pat said... My grandmother made our bread - I was jealous of the kids who got to eat wonder bread . There was sunbeam too.
6-01-2010 @5:38PM jlw said... No white, soft, squishy bread was allowed in the house, but we could use it as dough balls for fish bait.
6-01-2010 @5:18PM Linda A. said... "What would your favorite Wonder Bread sandwich have on it? " Mine WOULDN'T have Wonder Bread, that's for sure! Nutritionally speaking, white bread is one of THE WORST things you can eat!
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6-01-2010 @8:02PM lafhaus said... We always wondered how they got the nerve to call it bread.
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6-01-2010 @3:48PM Tammy said... Hey does anyone remember those old tv adds about wonder bread. "Wonder bread builds strong bodies 12 different ways."
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6-01-2010 @7:53PM Joan said... Tammy, I remember the commercial. I also recall as a young child we had a Wonder Bread Truck that would come around in my neighborhood once or twice a week and mom would buy from him. He use to give all the kids little cardboard Wonder Trucks. We would play with them for hours.
6-02-2010 @10:22AM A.J. said... Before that ir was "8 ways".
6-01-2010 @3:43PM Jud said... I always wondered how they can call it bread. It is white pastie dough. My god-mother bought that bread and the only thing I liked about it was when they printed the Davy Crocket lyrics on the ends of the outside label. Does anyone else remember that???? Shows my age eh. My mom raised me on hard crust bread and no mush bread. It must have been invented for people with no teeth. I am amazed that those awful breads are still on the market.. It taste okay for toast but that is about it. Give me a good crusty bread any time.
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6-01-2010 @3:44PM XxRosexOfxSharyn said... I've never liked Wonder Bread.
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6-01-2010 @4:19PM sunny said... I looooove Wonder Bread.
Soooo soft and squishy.
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6-01-2010 @4:52PM steve said... Growing up, we couldn't afford Wonder Bread, so we ate the cheap stuff or what was on sale. It may have been a good thing, as it got me eating whole grain, crusty Italian, and other breads when they were on sale. Friends that ate Wonder would not eat anything else. To this day, I love the different varieties of breads. You won't catch me dead with a loaf of plain white bread.
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6-01-2010 @4:39PM David S. said... Wow, Wonder Bread has been around that long? Impressive it sold well when the sliced loaves hit the shelves in 1930, given that was the beginning of the Great Depression. Grew up on this bread, but I don't buy it anymore. Still seems like a bread for kids, but to each his own.
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6-01-2010 @5:18PM Kent said... My Granddad called it "wasp nest" bread...never bought a loaf.
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6-01-2010 @7:09PM John F.C. Taylor said... I can't even recall the last time I ate any brand of plain white bread. I do remember using it for bait as a kid. Pity it has stuck around when products that are good for you like Postum get killed off by the corporate big shots.
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6-02-2010 @10:24AM A.J. said... When I was a kid growing up in the '40's and 50's I used to call it "air bread". I loved it . . . especially with butter and light brown sugar sandwiches or butter and sliced raddish sandwiches lightly salted. We didn't know that sugar, butter fat and salt were "bad". My diet was very wholesome, otherwise, except perhaps for the homogenized whole milk from the dairy store.
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6-01-2010 @7:43PM Arnold Auanger said... In Europ the called this bread, AMERICAN AIR .Allmost nobody bought it,exept a few homesick G.Is.
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6-01-2010 @7:52PM Jim said... I remember the smell of the Wonder Bread bakery in Flushing, NY growing up. The smell was great but my mother would never buy it. She said it was not good for us, so we were raised on wheat and rye bread.
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6-01-2010 @10:54PM Jim Bob said... AT&T owned Wonder bread at one time and sponsored Howdy doody,who happened to be a dummy.Which makes the buyers of this junk bread guilty of being relations to Howdy. Barnum was right.There is one born every minute.Congrats to the no food value bread of the century,, Jim Bob
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