Bread is essential. In Western restaurants, it is often the first thing served before a meal; in the Stu-Fac, it’s a reliable choice for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There are more than five types of bread in the Stu-Fac including French, sourdough, Italian, white, and whole grain. Additionally, there are various types of bagels: plain, cinnamon raisin, sesame seed, poppy seed, and more.
The most common use of bread in the Stu-Fac is to make sandwiches. Italian and white bread are the easiest to flatten in the panini presses due to their soft structure, creating the thinnest sandwiches. Though I understand the appeal of using Italian bread in paninis, I prefer the denser structure of French bread. Its taste differs slightly from sourdough, which has a tangy taste that can be off-putting. Additionally, French bread is satisfyingly crunchy when panini-pressed successfully.
The bread most frequently used for open-faced creations is white bread. The familiar bread is a great choice for peanut butter, jelly, Nutella, or some combination of spreads available in the Stu-Face. The most popular iteration of open-faced bread is likely avocado toast. Made by cutting open a ripe avocado—a healthy source of unsaturated fat—and spreading half of it on the toast, some opt to subsequently sprinkle everything bagel seasoning on top. An optional addition to the meal is a topping of arugula salad. To make the salad, mix up leaves of arugula with lemon juice, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and vinaigrette. The last step of making avocado toast is to dust it, again, with everything bagel seasoning.
A sweeter, more obscure option that is popular within the Concord Academy community, is the cinnamon raisin bagel. This bagel is great with butter and brown sugar. Though the combination is unconventional, the savoriness of the melted butter is a great balance to the subtle sweetness of the bagel. Bagels, however, are not as optimal for toast as sliced bread due to their shape. The bread that toasts best is flat and even across all surfaces.
The toaster, often because of the bagel’s non-toaster-conducive geometry, is often a point of incident in the CA Stu-Fac bread experience. It is important to remember that when using the toaster, bread should be horizontally placed in order to achieve an even toast and avoid starting a fire. Bread has and will continue to serve as a staple food in the CA community, and it will remain one of my favorite things to ruminate over in the Stu-Fac when deciding what I want to eat.