Interesting. As an amateur baker and avid bread lover, the first thing that occurred to me reading your article was that perhaps the ban on pre-sliced bread might have had the unanticipated consequence of increasing bread consumption — significantly if not by huge amounts.

That harried householder who had to hand carve 20 slices in a hurry likely faced my own difficulties with a bread knife. Achieving a consistent slice is difficult, and at least for me the error is often on the side of too thick.

I would think that pre-sliced bread actually helps a family get a bit more out of each loaf.

But then, if as you wrote, wheat was not in short supply anyway, it was all just rather needless.

My grandmother’s memories of the era centered rather more around sugar, which was closely rationed and I guess actually in short supply though I don’t particularly understand why.

If you feel like writing about that, I’d be all ears!