The greatest thing since sliced bread

Sliced bread was first introduced to America by Wonder Bread, after the whiz-band bread slicing machine was developed by a guy named Otto Rohwedder.

Apparently, an article printed about the newfangled machine at the time claimed the typical housewife could expect “a thrill of pleasure when she first sees a loaf of this bread with each slice the exact counterpart of its fellows. So neat and precise are the slices, and so definitely better than anyone could possibly slice by hand with a bread knife that one realizes instantly that here is a refinement that will receive a hearty and permanent welcome.”

The phrase "the greatest/best thing since sliced bread" is attributed to Wonder Bread promotion: "the greatest step... since bread was wrapped.

These days of course, we have sandwich and toast sliced thicknesses - I doubt Otto's machine was sophisticated enough to be adapted to different slicing widths but I could be wrong!

When I was at high school, I worked in a local bakery and sliced many a loaf of bread (both sandwich and toast) using the slicers. I got it down to a fine art but never really stopped to wonder who invented the thing.

A quick Google search shows me secondhand commercial slicers can be purchased on ebay for around $800-900.