Editing Bread (section)

== Cultural significance ==
[[File:Rapid Trident 2014 03.jpg|thumb|A Ukrainian woman in national dress welcoming with [[bread and salt]]]]
{{main|Bread in culture}}

[[Bread in culture|Bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition in many cultures]] because of its history and contemporary importance. Bread is also [[sacramental bread|significant in Christianity]] as one of the elements (alongside [[wine]]) of the [[Eucharist]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033174/Eucharist |title=Eucharist (Christianity) – Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=19 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519053204/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9033174/Eucharist |url-status=live }}</ref> and in other religions including [[Paganism]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Sabrina, Lady |title=Exploring Wicca: The Beliefs, Rites, and Rituals of the Wiccan Religion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeRKlCbOdnIC&pg=PA100 |year=2006 |publisher=Career Press |isbn=978-1-56414-884-1 |pages=100–}}</ref>

In many [[culture]]s, bread is a [[metaphor]] for basic necessities and living conditions in general. For example, a "bread-winner" is a household's main economic contributor and has little to do with actual bread-provision. This is also seen in the phrase "putting bread on the table". The Roman poet [[Juvenal]] satirized superficial politicians and the public as caring only for "''panem et circenses''" ([[bread and circuses]]).<ref>[[Juvenal#Literary and cultural influence|Juvenal's literary and cultural influence (Book IV: Satire 10.81)]]</ref> In [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russia]] in 1917, the Bolsheviks promised "peace, land, and bread."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/513251/Russia/38557/The-Civil-War-and-War-Communism-1918-21 |title=Russia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=3 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/lenin/section6.rhtml |title=Vladimir Lenin: From March to October. SparkNotes |publisher=Sparknotes.com |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-date=31 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231202103/http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/lenin/section6.rhtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The term "[[breadbasket]]" denotes an agriculturally productive region. In parts of [[Northern Europe|Northern]], [[Central Europe|Central]], [[Southern Europe|Southern]] and [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] Europe [[bread and salt]] is offered as a welcome to guests.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hayward |first=Tim  |date=2020 |title=Loaf Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrP1DwAAQBAJ |publisher=Hardie Grant Publishing |language=English |access-date=25 January 2021 |isbn=9781787134782}}</ref> In [[India]], life's basic necessities are often referred to as "roti, kapra aur makan" (bread, clothes, and house).<ref>{{cite book |last=Patel |first=K.V. |title=The Foundation Pillars for Change |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lC_8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |year=2014 |publisher=Partridge |isbn=978-1-4828-1563-4 |page=54}}</ref>

Words for bread, including "dough" and "bread" itself, are used in [[English language|English]]-speaking countries as [[synonym]]s for [[money]].<ref name=etym>{{OEtymD|bread}}</ref> A remarkable or revolutionary innovation may be called the best thing since "[[sliced bread]]".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Molella |first1=Art |title=How the Phrase 'The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread' Originated |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/how-the-phrase-the-best-thing-since-sliced-bread-originated/252674/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=30 September 2016 |date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=29 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160929225916/http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/how-the-phrase-the-best-thing-since-sliced-bread-originated/252674/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The expression "to break bread with someone" means "to share a meal with someone".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/break+bread+with |title=Break bread with  |publisher=The Free Dictionary |access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref> The English word "lord" comes from the Anglo-Saxon ''hlāfweard'', meaning "bread keeper."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lord |title=Lord |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |access-date=1 January 2017 |archive-date=3 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103153220/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lord |url-status=live }}</ref>

Bread is sometimes referred to as "the staff of life", although this term can refer to other staple foods in different cultures: the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' defines it as "bread (or similar staple food)".<ref name="camb">{{cite web|title=The staff of life|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/staff-of-life|website=Cambridge Dictionary|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-date=20 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420202928/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/staff-of-life|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=oed>{{Cite OED|Staff}} OED cites 1638 "Bread is worth all, being the Staffe of life" but also 1901 "Broad beans form one of the staves of life in Sicily".</ref> This is sometimes thought to be a biblical reference, but the nearest wording is in Leviticus 26 "when I have broken the staff of your bread".<ref name="levit">{{cite web|title=Leviticus 26:26|url=https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/leviticus-26-26.html|publisher=Bible Study Tools|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-date=20 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420135604/https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/leviticus-26-26.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The term has been adopted in the names of bakery firms.<ref name="kendal">{{cite web|title=Home page|url=http://www.staffoflifebakery.co.uk/|publisher=Staff of Life Bakery|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420135833/http://www.staffoflifebakery.co.uk/|archive-date=20 April 2018|url-status=dead}} ''An example''</ref>

=== Fictional breads ===
Lembas bread: a fictional bread from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. It was given to Frodo by Galadriel and kept him alive through his journey.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Bread of the two elders: a magical type of bread from ''[[Hungarian Folk Tales]]'' (from the Ördög és a kenyér story). It was able to talk and ward off the [[Ördög]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A kicsi dió |url=https://www.nepmese.hu/index.php/mesetar/mesek/a-kicsi-dio |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=www.nepmese.hu |language=hu-hu |archive-date=21 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421201013/https://www.nepmese.hu/index.php/mesetar/mesek/a-kicsi-dio |url-status=live }}</ref>