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The presence of this food in our culture throughout the ages and in all countries has conferred a certain sacredness that brings a daily involvement, from its conservation (from the kitchen cupboard to the freezer) and for the use of old bread (hard or stale). It is for this aspect that the farming culture teaches us many uses and the impossibility of throwing out any bread which, when really can no longer be eaten may be eaten or used for other foods, it may be used to feed domestic animals, for example. Tuscany is the place for lasting bread and of famousand flavoursome recipes, which have as a base element, bread; from bread soup, to the Father al pomadoro, from the ribollita to the panzanella, to mention only the most famous. But with bread there may be realized a complete meal: from the starters of crostini, to the sweet dishes (cakes and soufflé); our fantasies may be whims as bread (like oil) cannot be left out in any house; it is a reassuring presence that merits the most profound respect; everyone of us may agree with the great French agronomist, forerunner on the science of food, in the 1600s: «Bread is a generous gift from nature, an irreplaceable food.....It may be taken in every hour of the day, for every age of life, and for every person. It is so adapted for man that it nourishes us, and we may say, from birth until death we do not tire of it».
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