The story of sliced bread illustrates the freedom Americans have to act on preferences, whether those are for convenience, taste, or tradition.

Otto Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, created the invention by which all others are judged — sliced bread — in 1928. His innovation quickly changed consumer culture.

By now it has a quaint, even faintly ironic ring--was sliced bread really greater than computers, space travel and pull-tab cans?--but when Otto Rohwedder introduced his bread-slicing machine in ...

In 1928, Otto Rohwedder invented the automatic bread slicing machine, revolutionizing the way bread was sold in American households. The town of Chillicothe, Missouri, commemorates Rohwedder's ...

On this day, July 7, in 1928, a bakery in Chillicothe, Mo., was the first to sell pre-cut bread using Otto Frederick Rohwedder’s invention: the automatic bread-slicing machine.

This morning at breakfast, when you spread strawberry jam on that neatly sliced slab of white toast, you should bow your head to Otto Francis Rohwedder. You should do the same when you chomp into ...

By now it has a quaint, even faintly ironic ring (is sliced bread really greater than computers, space travel and pull-tab cans?) but when Otto Rohwedder of Battle Creek, Mich., introduced his ...

Cecilie Rohwedder is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s Mansion section. She previously worked for the Journal in London, Berlin and Brussels, covering areas ranging from politics and ...