One thing that is very strange to me these days is American bread! It was definitely never weird to me before. In fact, I’ve never thought about it. Growing up, we would buy loaves of bread fairly often, and occasionally in the summer the bread would age, get mold of some kind, and be thrown away. Not weird, right?

In Turkey, we buy fresh bread everyday. This year, we had a nice little pastane (bakery) right next to our apartment building, with a sweet girl named Yıldız working there. We could get a great tasting loaf of bread for 30 kuruş (I guess, like 20 cents?) anytime of day or night. Plus, I would buy great poğaça (little pastries) for breakfast almost everyday. The only bad thing about buying such fresh breads is that they only last about a day. The second day that bread is in our house, it is already dry and hard. After less than a week, we find mold on the bread. Usually, though, this isn’t a problem, as we devour the bread so quickly.

 The question to me, then, becomes What is in American bread that makes it last at least two weeks, unrefrigerated? I bought a loaf of good, whole-grain bread when I got home, forgot about it in my cupboard, found it after a week, and now two weeks later, it’s not dry or hard. I finished it this morning for breakfast. Does anyone else find this odd?