Just to add some perspective from the outside world (I.e. Not America).
In Italy sliced bread never really took over common bread. Yes we make toasts, and yes, we have sliced bread, but that's usually some industrial, over-processed bread loaf that you'll never find fresh at a bakery.
Here in Germany, were I live now, it's a mix. Common bread everywhere, but you can slice your own loaf at the supermarket with a terrific automated spring-loaded circular saw machine that's very cool to operate.
I just want to point out that "the best thing since sliced bread" is a sentence culturally linked to the U.S. conception of bread. I point that out because I had conversation with American friends in the past who were surprised by the non-universality of this sentence (as often happens with other cultural references).
Yeah, in Spain sliced bread is not very popular either. Some people use it for breakfast toast. And it is used to make sandwiches. Curiously, we use the word "sandwich" for a sandwich made with sliced bread, and the Spanish word "bocadillo" for a sandwich made with traditional bread. Bocadillos are widely considered superior, with sandwiches used for a cheaper, quick snack, or for easier portability. No one would make a sandwich with things that are appreciated and considered good food (like serrano ham, tomato with olive oil, tortilla, a good cheese, or calamari), they make bocadillos with that. Sandwiches are universally for cheap sliced cheese and cheap ham.
In summary, the phrase "the best thing since sliced bread" sounds very awkward in Spain because sliced bread is not associated with something good. It's associated with something quick that can do if you're in a hurry or if there's nothing better. Kind of as if we said "the best thing since Perl scripts" :)
I was introduced to the glorious bocadillo a few years ago on a couple visits to Barcelona. I've been trying to replicate a certain ham/cheese version of it here in the U.S. since then. It seems so simple and basic in Spain, where the ham and cheeses are unbelievably good, but here in the U.S. they're just different enough that you can't quite do it.
Not to mention getting the right kind/shape of bread is impossible.
French here, sliced bread is like "the worst thing ever".And dont get me started on industrial bread.If your bread isnt like less than 30 min fresh,hot from the oven, you shouldnt eat it.And by the way,we call sliced bread "english bread".
Dutch-near-German-border here. I think your opinion stems from the quality of industrial bread in France. If you look in the Netherlands you'll find a wide variety of very tasty pre-sliced industrial bread, always fresh baked in the morning.
That being said, I always buy unsliced artisan German bread from my local baker who imports it from across the border.
And for fun, let's fan the flames a bit. You can't compare the simple french baguette to the rich flavour of artisan German bread, simply no contest ;)
Dutch industrial bread is nice in its own way, but it's not really bread like a baguette is. White Dutch bread has a cake-y character to it, which goes very well together with more 'delicate' toppings like butter & hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles), jam, a young dutch cheese or boiled ham, which are common in the Netherlands. Whole wheat sourdough bread, no matter how great, just doesn't mesh with delicate toppings like strawberry jam. That said, a baguette or artisan bread is a far superior base for a good old cheese, Serrano ham or other 'strong' toppings. This is why brown dutch bread is never worth buying IMO -- it's kind of a weird thing like cake made with whole wheat flour that reminds me of antroposophic foods: it's slightly less unhealthy but it tastes like crap. If you're gonna eat something unhealthy it better taste good.
American here. Several years ago, our son was working in the Netherlands (west), and met us for a few days in Paris. He took back a fair bit of bread, not liking the Dutch product. To be sure, I have had good locally baked bread in Lower Saxony.
In my childhood in northern Ohio, there was a local bakery that had its own slicer and would slice the bread on request. I remember the product as quite good (I preferred the rye), but growing boys will eat pretty much anything.
The first time I encountered one of those machines was in our local Lidl in Ireland. I could easily have stayed all day slicing bread, hugely satisfying to watch.
Of course, the engineer inside me wondered how well the safety lockouts were designed such that there would be no risk of accidentally having ones forearms turned into neat evenly sliced pieces.
Well, it's the different form factor. Soft and brick-sized bread doesn't belong to the Italian tradition. Slicing what we have it's not that difficult and in most cases there is no need to slice anything. We just break it with bare hands and have it.
Belgian perspective: every bakery has their own cutting machine, and when you buy a bread, it is cut just before it is wrapped. If you tell the baker beforehand that you prefer it uncut, you'll get it uncut. 15 years ago, it used to be the other way round: the baker would ask you if you wanted it cut, and would only cut it if you said 'yes'.
Bread in supermarkets can be pre-cut and pre-packaged (industrial, cheaper, and of inferior taste), but often supermarkets also offer freshly baked, uncut bread and have a cutting machine for you to use when you pack up your bread.
Very few things in this world beat a good sandwich made of roughly cut "civraxiu" [1] loaves, with "salsiccia di Irgoli" [2] and "pecorino" [3] cheese, washed down by a glass or three of "Nepente di Oliena" [4] red wine.
Here in Germany, were I live now, it's a mix. Common bread everywhere, but you can slice your own loaf at the supermarket with a terrific automated spring-loaded circular saw machine that's very cool to operate.
I just want to point out that "the best thing since sliced bread" is a sentence culturally linked to the U.S. conception of bread. I point that out because I had conversation with American friends in the past who were surprised by the non-universality of this sentence (as often happens with other cultural references).