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Cultural significance

Bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition in many cultures because of its history and contemporary importance. Bread is also significant in Christianity as one of the elements (alongside wine) of the Eucharist, and in other religions including Paganism.

In many cultures, 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). In Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks promised "peace, land, and bread." The term " breadbasket " denotes an agriculturally productive region. In parts of Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe bread and salt is offered as a welcome to guests. In India, life's basic necessities are often referred to as "roti, kapra aur makan" (bread, cloth, and house).

Words for bread, including "dough" and "bread" itself, are used in English -speaking countries as synonyms for money. A remarkable or revolutionary innovation may be called the best thing since " sliced bread ". The expression "to break bread with someone" means "to share a meal with someone". The English word "lord" comes from the Anglo-Saxon hlāfweard, meaning "bread keeper."

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)". 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". The term has been adopted in the names of bakery firms.