Thursday, January 02, 2003


the price of bread

as a long-time fan of poilane bread myself, i was interested to see that london has finally caught onto poilane's traditional french country bread.

this article makes a huge deal about the cost of this huge 4.2-lb. hand-made loaf -- US$16 -- but frankly, i was envious, since here in new york it can sell for US$25 and on the net it costs about US$35!

from poilane itself in france expect to pay about US$40, mostly for shipping. . .

since it is basically 4 loaves of regular bread in size, even at US$25 it can seem reasonable, when compared to the bread bought at say the massively overpriced dean & deluca, where you can end up paying US$7 for a 1-lb. loaf that's not nearly as good. since bread freezes well, to buy a 4-lb. loaf isn't as crazy as it may at first seem. . .

finally, here's the refreshing story of a retiree who bakes bread to raise money for her local public library. US$5 a loaf seems steep for bread machine loaves -- in light of that poilane above -- but hey more power to her! perhaps this idea could be adapted for your own community project by one of you ambitious readers.

posted by fortune | 4:48 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments