Bread can be used as contraceptives!For TRPs sex, or whatever sells!
30 Aug 2009, 1045 hrs IST, Anuradha Varma, TNN
| Dibankar Banerjee wants sex... uh, it's sex in the title of his movie that we're talking about. But, we caught your attention, didn't we? That's And the viewers? Even as they discuss the "cheap antics" on soaps and reality shows, they go back for more dope to discuss the next day... of course, sending TRPs soaring once again! So, do the audience and creators of content deserve each other, or should someone be crying "enough"? Sandip Sickand, freelance creative director, Balaji Telefilms, believes that creative heads have to keep pace with an audience that's still to grow up. He justifies the twists on the longest running soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi..., which bumped off characters and brought them back to life on 'popular demand' , "It worked and viewers tuned in. But, the show ended when it had run its course." On Bigg Boss contestants claiming that only certain aspects of their personality were highlighted to net TRPs, he accepts that a lot of the spicing up happens on the editing table, with certain quotable quotes being retained and highlighted. He adds though, "The public ultimately knows what's true... you can't fool them. And unless there's a connect, things don't work." Says Nikhil Madhok , VP Marketing and Communications , NDTV Imagine, which recently hit a homerun with Rakhi ka Swayamvar, "We crunch the best moments out of 24 hours of programming ." Rakhi's quotable quotes, for instance, "Mujhe uske choone se kuch nahin hota hai (" I feel nothing when he touches me" ) made the final swayamvar night the most watched for any nonfiction programme since November, 2007. However, he points out, "Rakhi also connected with viewers on various levels. Some young girls, who had never been out on a date and were alien to the concept of meeting a guy before marriage , wrote in to say they were now aware of how to approach such situations." But, sometimes, some business decisions are hard to make. Madhok recalls, "When we launched the channel, we wanted to try something different. We started with offbeat social themes in Radha ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi and Ek Packet Ummeed, but they didn't work. Urban themes often don't click. Women watching the serial have more immediate concerns, like finding a man to marry." Filmmakers too battle market demands. Even Bollywood's feted filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj went "commercial" with Kaminey, adding club number Dhan Te Nan for the masses. He said in an interview, "We've to admit people want catchphrases. ...Audiences are no longer sensitive to tender thoughts like 'Hai tere saath meri wafaa' and other Madan Mohan ghazals." | |
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4950536.cms
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Bread can be used as contraceptivesThe Press Association - 4 hours ago Some women believe bread, cling film and chicken skin can be used as contraceptives, a poll by a healthcare giant has revealed. ... Contraception myths 'widespread' BBC News Home-Spun or Hard Fact? SYS-CON Media Make artisan bread without the hard workCanada.com - - 20 hours ago For some, the thought of baking bread is painful, a long, dragged-out affair that takes forever and is tricky to do. ... Folic acid in bread welcomed in AustraliaTVNZ - Sep 4, 2009 Beneath the crust, a quiet revolution is underway in Australia's bread business and health experts say it will reap benefits for generations to come. ... Nutritional Supplements Added to Australian Bread CRIENGLISH.com Daily BreadPhilippine Star - 22 hours ago In the life of trees, one key to survival is having more roots than shoots. In his book Oak: The Framework of Civilization, author William Bryant Logan says ... Mushroom and Spinach Soup with Garlic BreadIrish Independent - - 11 hours ago The first time I ate garlic bread was in an Italian restaurant in Belfast. I was 14 and thought it was fabulous -- a fluffy warm baguette ... Bread consumption has been reduced by 20 percent.SLBC - 11 hours ago President of the Bakery Owners' Association NK Jayawardena says bread consumption has been reduced by 20 percent. He says more profits could be received ... Real Bread Campaign announces membership scheme British Baker Tour-de-Food Georgetown Independent (subscription) 14 m agoStudy finds rye bread at breakfast more fillingNewsday - Sep 3, 2009 The latest addition to that advice - eat rye bread. A study, from Swedish researchers, found eating rye increases the feeling of being full and leads to ... Try rye as a new weight loss tool Examiner.com Britannia settles 'Tiger' brand tangle with US firmSify - Aug 31, 2009 Talking about its bread arm Daily Bread Gourmet Foods (India) Pvt Ltd, he said the wing has not performed as per the company's expectations. ... Britannia looks at strengthening global operations Business Standard Britannia surges on Danone dispute settlement Economic Times Wadia okay with entry of Danone Times of India Aunt Millie's Bread workers on strikeWTOL - 21 hours ago The strike involves members of three separate unions working with Aunt Millie's Bread. It includes workers in Temperance, Battle Creek and Detroit. ... Watertown Twp. workers join in strike against Aunt Millie's Lansing State Journal Panera Bread to offer free samples on Sept. 10PNW Local News - 22 hours ago 10, Seattle-area participating Panera Bread bakery-cafes are inviting customers to experience the flavors of fall with free samples of its new BBQ Chicken ... Panera Bread to roll out fall menu Fast Casual |
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Bread can be used as contraceptives The survey of 1,000 women aged 18 to 50 unearthed a number of misconceptions about family planning.
One in five detailed bizarre methods of contraception including eating garlic or using bread, plastic wrap or chicken skin as a barrier method.
The poll, carried out by Opinion Health for drug manufacturer Bayer Schering Pharma, also found a number of misunderstandings about the contraceptive pill.
Half of those surveyed wrongly thought that taking the pill long term could cause infertility, and 10% said that it would always take a number of years to regain fertility after coming off the medication.
More than a third thought that the greatest risk of getting pregnant while taking the combined contraceptive pill occurred in the middle of a pack, when in fact it is at the beginning and end.
The combined pill contains oestrogen and progestogen.
Dr Annie Evans, Women's Health Specialist at the Bristol Sexual Health Centre, said: "It is not surprising that this survey has uncovered how widespread contraceptive myths still are in this country, given that Britain continues to have the highest unintended pregnancy rate in Europe, with as many as 50% of births being unintended.
"It is vital that women are made aware of the facts, using the credible sources of information available to them."
05/09/2009
Don't treat us like refugees, Pashupatinath priests tell Nepal
Kathmandu: Smarting under the continuing attacks on Indian priests and the allegation that they were siphoning off the offerings made by devotees at the altar of Pashupatinath, one of the holiest Hindu shrines, the chief priest at the temple said he and his ilk were ready to go back to India.
Mahabaleshwar Bairy, the chief priest at the revered fifth century temple and the only person allowed to touch the deity, told the government that if Nepalis did not want Indian priests at the shrine, he and the four other Indian priests appointed there were ready to return home.
"We are not refugees," the priest from Karnataka's Udipi district said. "If you don't want us, we are ready to leave Nepal. But don't insult us."
The 41-year-old priest, who has been living in Nepal for nearly two decades, also said that he and his brethren were concerned only with the worship of the deity.
"We have no connection with the offerings made to the deity," he said. "Our only concern is worshipping the God in accordance with the scriptures."
The priest broke his silence after two new Indian priests, appointed by the government of Nepal last week on his recommendation, were attacked inside the temple in an unprecedented incident.
Priests choosen on the basis of ability
Nepal's Culture Minister Minendra Rijal said the two new appointees Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt, also from Karnataka, were appointed in accordance with the rules governing the shrine.
"The priests were chosen on the basis of ability, not nationality," he said. "The Pashupatinath Area Development Trust regulations say priests would be chosen by a three-member committee headed by the chief priest.
"The government is satisfied that both the new priests are the best candidates we have had."
The tradition of appointing Indian priests at the Pashupatinath temple started from the time of the Malla kings of Nepal who reigned from the 12th to the 18th century.
During the death of a Malla king, the entire kingdom was said to have been bereaved since the king was regarded as the father of the nation.
http://news.in.msn.com/international/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3206892
Darling says stability enables spending plan
Greater economic stability means the government can begin to decide on the right level of public spending cuts and tax rises to reduce a record deficit, Chancellor Alistair Darling was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview. Related photos / videos
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling attends the opening session of …More Speaking to the Times newspaper, Darling said ministers will have to "level" with voters about how they plan to restore the public finances.
With Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party trailing in the opinion polls less than a year before an election, Darling's latest spending plans will be politically sensitive.
"As there is less uncertainty you can decide what your priorities are," Darling was quoted as saying in the article, carried on the Times website.
"This doesn't mean you are going into some sort of Dark Age but we will have to decide, given what's happened to the economy, how much we think we can afford to spend on services, how much we should be devoting to making sure we recover our fiscal position."
The government will lay out its spending plans in the pre-budget report this autumn, he added.
Darling, who is hosting G20 finance ministers in London this weekend, said action to reduce the deficit will begin once the recovery starts.
Britain's economy went into recession at the end of 2008 for the first time since 1991. The government predicts that it will return to growth around the end of this year.
"Once you start getting into recovery, then that is the time when you have to say 'now we need to start doing something about the deficit,'" he was quoted as saying.
"When you look at the burden of where the deficit reduction comes from, it is tax, yes, but it is also having much tighter public spending."
He ruled extending the temporary reduction in the VAT sales tax from 17.5 percent to 15 percent, saying: "We have to be resolute that we can live within our means in the medium term."
In an interview with Reuters ahead of the G20 meeting, Darling warned that the world risked a second recession if it withdrew stimulus measures too quickly.
(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Gold advances further on persistent local demand
Gold prices advanced further on the bullion market here due to persistent local buying interest despite lower New York advices.
Silver also firmed up on renewed demand from industrial users.
In New York, gold futures edged lower on Friday after rallying near USD 1,000 an ounce in the previous session, as a jobs report that fell largely in line with expectations curbed gold's safe-haven appeal.
December gold futures, slid by USD 1 to end at USD 996.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Silver for December delivery fell slightly to end at USD 16.285 an ounce.
In the domestic market, standard gold (99.5 purity) firmed up further by Rs 50 per ten grams to Rs 15,785 from yesterday's closing level of Rs 15,735.
OilMin proposes 44% hike in natural gas prices
The Union petroleum ministry has proposed a 44 per cent increase in prices of natural gas sold under the administered price mechanism (APM) by state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd.
This would take the price to $2.6 per million British thermal unit (mBtu). The ministry has also proposed to link further changes in the price of regulated gas to the Wholesale Price Index. "The draft cabinet note on increasing price of natural gas under APM has already been prepared, and we have already taken inputs from fertiliser and power ministries," VLVSS Subba Rao, joint adviser (finance) in the ministry, said.
The price of APM gas, which is produced from the nominated fields, was last revised in 2006 by about 20 per cent with the fertiliser sector getting a chunk of the gas and certain previously earmarked small scale industrial units in Agra and Ferozabad. ONGC's shares gained on news that the government may hike regulated gas prices. At the Bombay Stock Exchange, ONGC's share price ended at Rs 1,177.75 at close of Friday's trade -- up 3.09 per cent from the previous day.
As per the draft note, the petroleum ministry is proposing a price of $2.6 per mBtu as against a current price of $1.8 per mBtu, Rao said. The price of gas sold from other fields, which are privately operated, range from $3-5. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) D6 gas is being sold at $4.2.
Rao added the petroleum ministry will soon approach the finance ministry for its comments and then take the proposal to the cabinet.
"As per the proposal, the new price will come into effect retrospectively from April 1, 2009," Rao said. The government regulates the price of natural gas produced from fields awarded before the introduction of the New Exploration Licensing Policy in 1999.
"We want to progressively increase the price of APM gas to match the market price," the official said. At 45 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd), APM gas currently accounts for over 34 per cent of the country's 130 mmscmd gas availability (which includes the latest production from Reliance Industries' K-G basin). However, the share of APM gas in total availability has been coming down gradually.
ONGC, which sells most of the gas at the regulated price, has been seeking a hike in prices. ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma had earlier said the company lost over Rs 3,000 crore in revenues during 2008-09 on sale of natural gas at regulated prices.
Rao said ONGC would start making profits in its gas business once gas prices were increased.
Source: Business Standard
G20 ministers are close to an agreement on bank bonuses - including the disclosure of top earners' pay, Sky sources have said.
However, the agreement will not include a limit on the amount paid to individuals.
Finance ministers from the world's 20 richest nations are in London to discuss how best to revive the global economy.
The ministers are meeting ahead of the full G20 leaders' summit being held in the US city of Pittsburgh later this month.
In London, the ministers were addressing the ways they intend to retreat from the major spending measures taken to tackle the recession.
But the row over bank payouts had been expected to dominate the meeting between the finance officials in the capital.
Sky News understands the ministers were nearing an agreement, under which banks would be forced to disclose the pay of their top earners.
That would include the salary details of everyone who earns more than either the chairman or chief executive.
Banks will also be forced to demonstrate they can "claw back" up to 100% of payouts in the event that deals unravel, Sky sources said.
These agreements are in principle and would be signed and sealed at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.
Sky News business correspondent Joel Hills said the measures would mean the end of stellar City bonuses.
"Individuals who perform will continue to be paid tens of millions of pounds - but taxpayers and shareholders will now know how many people at a bank are multi-millionaires," he said.
"Also, if investments later turn bad, bonuses will have to be repaid. This goes beyond the existing FSA (Financial Services Authority) guidelines."
France and Germany had wanted cap on bank payouts - but Chancellor Alistair Darling told Sky News he believed that would be unworkable.
French finance minister Christine Lagarde had said European nations were "determined" to stop the culture of bankers' bonuses.
The massive payouts have been blamed for triggering excessive risk-taking, which caused the global financial woes.
But talking to Sky News, Mr Darling said a cap on payouts would be "unenforceable" as top bankers would simply find other ways to reward themselves.
"We have got enough experience from countries around the world of what happens with pay policies, especially with people at the top," he said.
"They are very good at finding a way round it."
At the start of preceedings today, Gordon Brown urged the G20 ministers to press ahead with a $5trn financial stimulus packages to beat the global recession.
The Prime Minister warned against "complacency or over-confidence" in the recovery of the world economy.
Mr Brown added that he wanted G20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh to agree on "far-reaching" reforms to make the banks "more accountable, more representative and more effective".
Swine flu claims 2,840 lives worldwide: WHO
Swine flu has claimed at least 2,840 lives across the world and over 2.5 lakh of confirmed cases of the virus have been reported, the World Health Organisation Saturday said.
At least 254,000 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 virus has been reported from all over the world, which means that actual number could be much more, WHO's Gregory Hartl said at a news conference in Geneva.
"With the virus circulating so widely around the world, it is unfortunately to be expected that there will be deaths as the volume of cases and deaths is increasing," he said.
At the same time, there is no indication that the virus has mutated or changed its behaviour, he said noting that the virus is not causing more severe illness than before.
According to the latest update issued by WHO, tropical regions of South and South-East Asia continue to experience geographically regional or widespread influenza activity in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Many countries in the region are reporting increasing or sustained high levels of respiratory disease, and a few, including Thailand and Brunei Darussalam, have begun to report a declining trend in the level of respiratory diseases.
Another crash averted, this time in space
A large piece of a European Ariane-5 rocket passed within 1.3 km of the ISS. "The flight control team is continuing to monitor that debris, but again it did pass as expected and is no concern to the orbiting complex," said a NASA spokesperson.
NASA was monitoring the approaching 19-square-metre piece of space junk for days. The agency determined that although it was a relatively large piece, there was no danger for the station or astronauts and no avoidance manoeuvre was planned. But it was close enough for worry.
The rocket trash did not impact a spacewalk Thursday, during which two astronauts from the space shuttle Discovery installed a new ammonia tank used in the cooling system.
Space junk poses an impact danger for the ISS and occasionally warrants moving the station slightly to avoid a collision or placing astronauts in an evacuation capsule until the danger is past. In March, a piece of a Chinese rocket merited turning the ISS by 180 degrees to avoid a collision.
There are an estimated 13,000 pieces of space junk, according to the European Space Agency.
Further research was being carried out for the Chandrayaan-2 project, based on the quality data and photographs taken by Chandrayaan-1, whose mission came to an abrupt end last week, a top ISRO official said on Saturday.
"We have received about 70,000 photographs and data from Chandrayaan-1. Based on these data, further research is being carried out for the Chandrayaan-2 project, which is expected to be completed by 2012", Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission M Annadurai told reporters here.
He said the Chandrayaan-1 had given quality data over the last ten months after its launch on October 22.
"These data would be useful for further research", he said on the sidelines of an award function organised by Centenarian Trust.
India's maiden moon mission, which was to last two years, was terminated abruptly on August 29 after Indian Space Research Organisation lost communication with the spacecraft.
ISRO has maintained that 95 per cent of the scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-I had been completed.
On teachers' day, police baton charge teachers in Lucknow
Lucknow: Primary school teachers demanding a salary hike were baton charged by police here on Teachers Day.
As the teachers tried to enter the state assembly Saturday, police baton charged them.
"We resorted to force only when they (teachers) turned violent and tried to damage vehicles on the roads," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Prem Prakash told reporters.
"They are not regular teachers...their main demand pertains to better pay scale. Negotiations are on to meet the demands of the shiksha mitras (temporary teachers)," he added.
Even as the police claimed no one was seriously injured in the incident, the teachers alleged that nearly 40 people were taken to different hospitals.
Bangalore gears up for 'Joy of Giving Week'
India's IT hub Bangalore, along with the rest of the country, will come forward to make a difference in the lives of less privileged section of the society during the 'Joy of Giving Week', from Sept 27 to Oct 2.
The week-long event is the brain child of NGO GiveIndia.
On Friday, Cricketer Rahul Dravid and former badminton champion Prakash Padukone jointly announced Bangalore's participation in the 'Joy of Giving Week'.
Both sporting icons also pledged their support for the cause.
"This is a unique concept to bring all Indians together to indulge in acts of kindness. We just want all to give their time, money or just skills for the underprivileged," said Venkat Krishnan, director of GiveIndia, while announcing the Bangalore edition of the event.
"It will be a mass movement covering about one crore Indians, and volunteer groups in metros and smaller towns are already working on it. GiveIndia is just a bridge; a lot of us want to give but don't know whom to give. We help people to find the right organisations and causes they can help," added Krishnan.
Bangalore has lined up a plethora of events to make the week a "truly special" one.
Right from theatre personality Arundhati Nag offering non-governmental organisations free access to her theatre auditorium Ranga Shankara here during the week, to Bangalore-based voluntary organisation Janaagraha kickstarting its latest campaign 'Billion Voters'.
"We are offering the ground floor of Ranga Shankara complex during the week to NGOs free of cost, so that they can host various events. Moreover, three extra shows of plays at the theatre will be made available to underprivileged theatre enthusiasts," said Nag.
Janaagraha, during the week will promote active citizen engagement in voting and electoral issues, by establishing 'Citizenship Clubs' in colleges towards the 'One Billion Voters' campaign.
NGO Dream-A-Dream will launch 'Dreamathon' for its fund-raising campaign, while M.S. Ramaiah Hospital will reach out to six old-age homes and conduct free medical check-ups for the residents and SAP Labs will conduct a service programme offering computer classes for children and collect toys for them, besides reaching out to elders' homes.
"We're planning to hold a 'Dreamathon' during the week. Around 1,500 volunteers from our NGO will raise fund through various innovative activities including amateur music concerts and photo exhibitions to name a few," senior member of Dream a Dream Vishal Talreja said.
IITs faculty threatens indefinite strike for pay hike
Mumbai: As the nation celebrates Teacher's Day as a mark of respect and gratitude to them, nearly 4,000 faculty members of the prestigious IITs have threatened to go on an indefinite strike for improved pay structure.
Members of the IIT Faculty Federation will meet in Delhi tomorrow to take a final call on the issue, Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT-Bombay, told PTI.
Around 450 faculty members of IIT-B joined the nationwide relay fast this morning demanding better salaries and allowances as part of the nationwide stir by the faculty members of the renowned institutes.
Ten days ago, the faculty of the elite technology institutes had taken a mass casual leave.
Faculty members attended classes wearing black badges in protest, seeking prompt consideration of their demand by the Union HRD Minister.
Source: PTI
Ambani residence helipad gets coastal authority nod
"The helipad has been granted clearance by the Authority," Environment Secretary Valsa Nair Singh told PTI in Mumbai.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited had sought permission from the government for the helipad atop the building in posh Cuffe Parade area.
The government changed the Development Control (DC) regulations last year to permit helipads atop buildings, paving the way for the 'Seawind' helipad plan.
Environmentalists had objected to the plan, saying noise pollution would violate provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The MCZMA heard the matter on August 24 after which the proposal was cleared.
While Nepal sent Culture Minister Minendra Rijal to the shrine Saturday morning to watch over the initiation of newly appointed Indian priests Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt, the premier also said during the inauguration of a hospital in the city that the opposition Maoist party was trying to foment trouble.
They had not even spared the Pashupatinath shrine, the communist prime minister said.
"But the government will bring the perpetrators under the force of law," Nepal said. "This government is no weakling."
Riot police Saturday arrested 30 protesters and baton-charged others to clear the road leading to the temple.
Though the Pujari Nijukta Birodh Sangharsha Samiti - the committee formed to oppose the appointment of Indian priests - says it is apolitical and following the desire of all Nepalis, the violent protests are believed to be led by the opposition Maoist party, which during its tenure last year tried to halt the hiring of Indian priests.
Pakistani forces on Saturday killed at least 43 Islamic militants and destroyed their headquarters in the lawless Khyber tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
Related photos / videos
Pakistani soldiers patrol in Mingora, the main town in the Swat valley 
Pakistani forces have been fighting an offensive in Khyber since August 28 Helicopter gunships, paramilitary troops and artillery units carried out the attack on a Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) headquarters in the Tirrah valley, a security official in Peshawar told AFP.
"A total of 43 militants were killed today during an operation in Khyber," said a paramilitary Frontier Corps statement.
The toll could not be confirmed through independent sources as the area is under military control.
Pakistani forces have been fighting an offensive in the area after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a police barracks near the Torkham border crossing between the two countries on August 28, killing 22 policemen.
"Today (Saturday) the security forces destroyed the hideouts and a training centre of the Lashkar-e-Islam in Tirrah valley, heavy casualties of militants are expected," said an earlier Frontier Corps statement.
Security forces on Thursday destroyed the vacated house of Mangal Bagh, the hardline chief of the group. He had already escaped to the mountains, officials said.
Bagh is accused by officials of running torture centres and private jails and running a Taliban-style system in some parts of Khyber tribal district.
"So far, 57 militants have been killed during six days of operations, five security men were wounded," Tariq Hayat, the top administrator of Khyber told reporters on Saturday.
The operation would continue until the militants are completely eliminated, he added.
Khyber is on the main land route through Pakistan into Afghanistan, where international forces are battling a Taliban insurgency.
Pakistan's northwest and tribal areas have been wracked by violence since hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters sought refuge there after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Bread
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bread, white (typical) Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy 270 kcal 1110 kJ | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. | ||||||||||||||||
| Bread, whole-wheat (typical) Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy 250 kcal 1030 kJ | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. | ||||||||||||||||
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked in the Western world (and many other countries), but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on a hot skillet.[1] It may be leavened or unleavened. Salt, fat and leavening agents such as yeast and baking soda are common ingredients, though bread may contain other ingredients, such as milk, egg, sugar, spice, fruit (such as raisins), vegetables (such as onion), nuts (such as walnuts) or seeds (such as poppy seeds). Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era. The development of leavened bread can probably also be traced to prehistoric times.
Fresh bread is prized for its taste, aroma, quality and texture. Retaining its freshness is important to keep it appetizing. Bread that has stiffened or dried past its prime is said to be stale. Modern bread is sometimes wrapped in paper or plastic film, or stored in a container such as a breadbox to reduce drying. Bread that is kept in warm, moist environments is prone to the growth of mold. Bread kept at low temperatures, in a refrigerator for example, will develop mold growth more slowly than bread kept at room temperature, but will turn stale quickly due to retrogradation.
The soft, inner part of bread is known to bakers and other culinary professionals as the crumb, which is not to be confused with small bits of bread that often fall off, called crumbs. The outer hard portion of bread is called the crust.
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[edit] Etymology
The word itself, Old English bread, is common in various forms to many Germanic languages; such as Frisian brea, Dutch brood, German Brot, Swedish bröd, Norwegian and Danish brød; it has been claimed to be derived from the root of brew. However, it may be connected with the root of break, for its early uses are confined to broken pieces, or bits of bread, the Latin crustum, and it was not until the 12th century that it took the place—as the generic name for bread—of hlaf (hlaifs in Gothic: modern English loaf), which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name; Old High German hleib and modern German Laib, or Finnish leipä, Estonian leib, and Russian хлеб (khleb) are similar (all are derived from the Old German word for "loaf").
[edit] History
Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era. The first bread produced was probably cooked versions of a grain-paste, made from ground cereal grains and water, and may have been developed by accidental cooking or deliberate experimentation with water and grain flour. Descendants of this early bread are still commonly made from various grains in many parts of the world, including the Iranian (Persian) lavashs, taboons, sangaks, Mexican tortilla, Indian chapatis, rotis and naans, Scottish oatcake, North American johnnycake, Middle Eastern pita, and Ethiopian injera. Flat bread of these types also formed a staple in the diet of many early civilizations with the Sumerians eating a type of barley flat cake, and the 12th century BC Egyptians being able to purchase a flat bread called ta from stalls in the village streets.[2]
The development of leavened bread is probably prehistoric. Yeast spores are ubiqitous, including the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest will become naturally leavened. The earliest archaeological evidence of yeast is from ancient Egypt. Scanning electron microscopy has detected yeast cells in some ancient Egyptian loaves. However, ancient Egyptian bread was made from emmer wheat and has a dense crumb. In cases where yeast cells are not visible, it is difficult, by visual examination, to determine whether the bread was leavened. As a result, the extent to which bread was leavened in ancient Egypt remains uncertain.[3]
There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread. Airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples." Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. The most common source of leavening, however, was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough starter.[4]
Even within antiquity, there were a wide variety of breads. In the Deipnosophistae, the Greek author Athenaeus describes some of the bread, cakes, cookies, and pastries available in the Classical world. Among the breads mentioned are griddle cakes, honey-and-oil bread, mushroom shaped loaves covered in poppy seeds, and the military specialty of rolls baked on a spit. The type and quality of flours used to produce bread could also vary, as noted by Diphilus when he declared "bread made of wheat, as compared with that made of barley, is more nourishing, more digestible, and in every way superior." In order of merit, the bread made from refined [thoroughly sieved] flour comes first, after that bread from ordinary wheat, and then the unbolted, made of flour that has not been sifted."[5]
Within medieval Europe, bread served not only as a staple food, but also as part of the table service. In the standard table setting of the day, the trencher, a piece of stale bread roughly 6 by 4 inches (15 cm × 10 cm), served as an absorbent plate. At the completion of a meal the trencher could then be eaten, given to the poor, or fed to the dogs. It was not until the fifteenth century that trenchers made of wood started to replace the bread variety.[6]
Otto Frederick Rohwedder is considered to be the father of sliced bread. In 1912 Rohwedder started work on inventing a machine that sliced bread, but bakeries were reluctant to use it, since they were concerned the sliced bread would go stale. It was not until 1928, when Rohwedder invented a machine that both sliced and wrapped the bread, that sliced bread caught on. A bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri was the first to use this machine to produce sliced bread.
For generations, white bread was the preferred bread of the rich, while the poor ate dark (whole grain) bread. However, in most western societies, the connotations reversed in the late 20th century, with whole grain bread becoming preferred as having superior nutritional value, while white bread became associated with lower-class ignorance of nutrition.[citation needed]
Another major advance happened in 1961 with the development of the Chorleywood Bread Process, which used the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period and the time taken to produce a loaf. The process, whose high-energy mixing allows for the use of inferior grain, is now widely used around the world in large factories.
More recently, and especially in smaller retail bakeries, chemical additives are used that both speed up mixing time and reduce necessary fermentation time, so that a batch of bread may be mixed, made up, risen, and baked in less than 3 hours. Dough that does not require fermentation because of chemical additives is called "no-time bread" by commercial bakers. Common additives include reducing agents such as L-cysteine or sodium metabisulfite, and oxidants such as potassium bromate or ascorbic acid.[7] Often these chemicals are added to dough in the form of a prepackaged base, which also contains most or all of the dough's non-flour ingredients. Using such bases and sophisticated chemistry, it has been possible for commercial bakers to make imitations of artisan and sourdough breads, traditionally made by semi-skilled labor working in smaller shops.
Recently, domestic breadmakers that automate the process of making bread have become popular in the home.
[edit] Cultural and political importance of bread
As a foodstuff of great historical and contemporary importance, in many cultures in the West and Near and Middle East bread has a significance beyond mere nutrition. The Lord's Prayer, for example, contains the line 'Give us today our daily bread'; here, 'bread' is commonly understood to mean necessities in general. The Roman poet Juvenal satirised superficial politicians and the public as caring only for "bread and circuses". In Israel the most usual phrase in work related demonstrations is "lekhem, avoda" [bread, work], and during the 1950s, the beatnik community used the term bread as a euphemism for money. In Cockney Rhyming Slang, bread means money and is derived from the phrase bread and honey.[8] The word bread is now commonly used around the world in English speaking countries as a synonym for money (as also is the case with the word dough.) The cultural importance of 'bread' goes beyond slang, however, to serve as a metaphor for basic necessities and living conditions in general. A 'bread-winner' is a household's main economic contributor and has little to do with actual bread-provision, for example. This also goes along with the phrase "putting bread on the table." A remarkable or revolutionary innovation is often referred to as "the greatest thing since sliced bread." In the USSR in 1917, Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks promised "Peace, Land, and Bread."[9][10] In Newfoundland, bread was seen as having the power to protect against fairies. The term "breadbasket" is often used to denote an agriculturally productive region. In Slavic cultures bread and salt is offered as a welcome to all guests. In India, life's basic necessities are often referred to as "roti, kapra aur makan" [bread, cloth and house].
The political significance of bread is considerable. In Britain in the nineteenth century the inflated price of bread due to the Corn Laws caused major political and social divisions, and was central to debates over free trade and protectionism. The Assize of Bread and Ale in the thirteenth century showed the importance of bread in medieval times by setting heavy punishments for short-changing bakers, and bread appeared in Magna Carta a half-century earlier.
[edit] Types
Bread is a popular food in most societies. East Asian societies typically prefer wheat noodles, steamed bread, or rice. Bread is often made from a wheat-flour dough that is cultured with yeast, allowed to rise, and finally baked in an oven. Owing to its high levels of gluten (which give the dough sponginess and elasticity), common wheat (also known as bread wheat) is the most common grain used for the preparation of bread, but bread is also made from the flour of other wheat species (including durum, spelt and emmer), rye, barley, maize (or corn), and oats, usually, but not always, in combination with wheat flour. Although common wheat is best suited for making highly-risen white bread, other wheat species are capable of giving good black bread. Spelt bread (Dinkelbrot) continues to be widely consumed in Germany, and emmer bread was a staple food in ancient Egypt. Canadian bread is known for its heartier consistency due to high protein levels in Canadian flour.
- White bread is made from flour containing only the central core of the grain (endosperm).
- Brown bread is made with endosperm and 10% bran. It can also refer to white bread with added colouring (often caramel colouring) to make it 'brown'; commonly labeled in America as "Wheat" bread (as opposed to "Whole Wheat" bread.)[11]
- Wholemeal bread contains the whole of the wheat grain (endosperm and bran). It is also referred to as 'whole grain' or 'whole wheat' bread, especially in North America.
- Wheat germ bread has added wheat germ for flavoring.
- Whole grain bread can refer to the same as 'wholemeal bread', or to white bread with added whole grains to increase its fibre content (i.e. as in "60% whole grain bread").
- Roti is a whole wheat based bread eaten in South Asia. Naan is also a variant of Roti.
- Granary bread is bread made from granary flour. Trademarked to Hovis, it is made from malted white or brown flour, wheat germ and whole grains.
- Rye bread is made with flour from rye grain of variable levels. It is higher in fiber than many common types of bread and is often darker in color and stronger in flavor. In Scandinavia, Germany, Finland, the Baltic States, and Russia, rye is a popular type of bread.
- Unleavened Bread used For the Jewish feast of passover, does not include yeast, thus it does not rise.
[edit] Quick breads
Quick breads usually refer to breads chemically leavened, usually with both baking powder and baking soda, and a balance of acidic ingredients, and alkaline ingredients. Examples include: pancakes, waffles, muffins, and Boston brown bread.
[edit] Composition and chemistry
[edit] Formulation
The amount of flour is the most significant measurement in a bread recipe, as it affects texture and crumb the most. Professional bakers use a system of percentages known as Bakers' Percentage in their recipe formulations, and measure ingredients by weight instead of by volume. Measurement by weight is much more accurate and consistent than measurement by volume, especially for the dry ingredients.
Flour is always stated as 100%, and the rest of the ingredients are a percent of that amount by weight. Common table bread in the U.S. uses approximately 50% water, resulting in a finely-textured, light, bread. Most artisan bread formulas contain anywhere from 60 to 75% water. In yeast breads, the higher water percentages result in more CO2 bubbles, and a coarser bread crumb. One pound (~ 450 g) of flour will yield a standard loaf of bread, or two French loaves.
Calcium propionate is commonly added by commercial bakeries to retard the growth of molds.
[edit] Flour
Flour is a product made from grain that has been ground into a powdery consistency. It is flour that provides the primary structure to the final baked bread. Commonly available flours are made from rye, barley, maize, and other grains, but it is wheat flour that is most commonly used for breads. Each of these grains provides the starch and protein necessary for the production of bread.
The quantity of the proteins contained in the flour serve as the best indicator of the quality of the bread dough and the finished bread. While bread can be made from all-purpose wheat flour, for quality bread a specialty bread flour, containing more protein, is recommended. If one uses a flour with a lower (9-11%) protein content to produce bread, a longer mixing time will be required to develop gluten strength properly. This extended mixing time leads to oxidization of the dough, which gives the finished product a whiter crumb, instead of the cream color preferred by most artisan bakers.
Wheat flour in addition to its starch contains three water-soluble protein groups, albumin, globulin, proteoses, and two non-water soluble protein groups, glutenin and gliadin. When flour is mixed with water the water-soluble proteins dissolve, leaving the glutenin and gliadin to form the structure of the resulting dough. When worked by kneading, the glutenin forms strands of long thin chainlike molecules while the shorter gliadin forms bridges between the strands of glutenin. The resulting networks of strands produced by these two proteins are known as gluten. Gluten development improves if the dough is allowed to autolyse.
[edit] Liquids
Water, or some other liquid, is used to form the flour into a paste or dough. The volume of liquid required varies between recipes, but a ratio of 1 part liquid to 3 parts flour is common for yeast breads, while recipes that use steam as the primary leavening method may have a liquid content in excess of one part liquid to one part flour by volume. In addition to water, other types of liquids that may be used include dairy products, fruit juices, or beer. In addition to the water in each of these, they also contribute additional sweeteners, fats, and/or leavening components.
[edit] Leavening
Leavening is the process of adding gas to a dough before or during baking to produce a lighter, more easily chewed bread. Most bread consumed in the West is leavened. However, unleavened breads have symbolic importance in Judaism and Christianity. Jews consume unleavened bread called Matza during Passover. They are also used in the Roman Catholic Christian liturgy when they celebrate the Eucharist, a rite derived from the narrative of the Last Supper when Jesus broke bread with his disciples, perhaps during a Passover Seder. On the other hand, the Orthodox Church always uses leavened bread.
[edit] Chemical leavening
A simple technique for leavening bread is the use of gas-producing chemicals. There are two common methods. The first is to use baking powder or a self-rising flour that includes baking powder. The second is to have an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk and add baking soda. The reaction of the acid with the soda produces gas.
Chemically-leavened breads are called quick breads and soda breads. This technique is commonly used to make muffins, pancakes, American-style biscuits and sweet breads such as banana bread.
[edit] Yeast leavening
Many breads are leavened by yeast. The yeast used for leavening bread is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same species used for brewing alcoholic beverages. This yeast ferments carbohydrates in the flour, including any sugar, producing carbon dioxide. Most bakers in the U.S. leaven their dough with commercially produced baker's yeast. Baker's yeast has the advantage of producing uniform, quick, and reliable results, because it is obtained from a pure culture. Many artisan bakers produce their own yeast by preparing a 'growth culture' which they then use in the making of bread. This culture kept in the right conditions will continue to grow and provide leavening for many years.
Both the baker's yeast and the sourdough method of baking bread follow the same pattern. Water is mixed with flour, salt and the leavening agent (baker's yeast or sourdough starter). Other additions (spices, herbs, fats, seeds, fruit, etc.) are not necessary to bake bread, but are often used. The mixed dough is then allowed to rise one or more times (a longer rising time results in more flavor, so bakers often punch down the dough and let it rise again), then loaves are formed, and (after an optional final rising time) the bread is baked in an oven.
Many breads are made from a straight dough, which means that all of the ingredients are combined in one step, and the dough is baked after the rising time. Alternatively, dough can be made using a pre-ferment, when some of the flour, water, and the leavening are combined a day or so ahead of baking, and allowed to ferment overnight. On the day of the baking, the rest of the ingredients are added, and the rest of the process is the same as that for straight dough. This produces a more flavorful bread with better texture. Many bakers see the starter method as a compromise between the highly reliable results of baker's yeast, and the flavor/complexity of a longer fermentation. It also allows the baker to use only a minimal amount of baker's yeast, which was scarce and expensive when it first became available. Most yeasted pre-ferments fall into one of three categories: poolish or pouliche, a loose-textured mixture composed of roughly equal amounts of flour and water (by weight); biga, a stiff mixture with a higher proportion of flour; and pâte fermentée, which is simply a portion of dough reserved from a previous batch. Sourdough (also known as levain or "natural leaven") takes it a step further, creating a pre-ferment with flour and water that propagates naturally occurring yeast and bacteria (usually Saccharomyces exiguus, which is more acid-tolerant than S. cerevisiae, and various species of Lactobacillus.)
[edit] Sourdough
The sour taste of sourdoughs actually comes not from the yeast, but from a lactobacillus, with which the yeast lives in symbiosis. The lactobacillus feeds on the byproducts of the yeast fermentation, and in turn makes the culture go sour by excreting lactic acid, which protects it from spoiling (since most microbes are unable to survive in an acid environment). All yeast-leavened breads used to be sourdoughs, and the leavening process was not understood until the 19th century, when with the advance of microscopes, scientists were able to discover the microbes that make the dough rise. Since then, strains of yeast have been selected and cultured mainly for reliability and quickness of fermentation. Billions of cells of these strains are then packaged and marketed as "Baker's Yeast". Bread made with baker's yeast is not sour because of the absence of the lactobacillus. Bakers around the world quickly embraced baker's yeast for it made baking simple and so allowed for more flexibility in the bakery's operations. It made baking quick as well, allowing bakeries to make fresh bread from scratch as often as three times a day. While European bakeries kept producing sourdough breads, in the U.S., sourdough baking was widely replaced by baker's yeast, and only recently has that country (or parts of it, at least) seen the rebirth of sourdough in artisan bakeries. According to Alton Brown, host of Food Network's "Good Eats" television show, each region of the world has different strains of lactobacillus, hence the flavor of the bread made from home starters is unique. The San Francisco Bay Area is especially famous for its sourdough breads.
Sourdough breads are most often made with a sourdough starter (not to be confused with the starter method discussed above). A sourdough starter is a culture of yeast and lactobacillus. It is essentially a dough-like or pancake-like flour/water mixture in which the yeast and lactobacilli live. A starter can be maintained indefinitely by periodically discarding a part of it and refreshing it by adding fresh flour and water. (When refrigerated, a starter can go weeks without needing to be fed.) There are starters owned by bakeries and families that are several human generations old, much revered for creating a special taste or texture. Starters can be obtained by taking a piece of another starter and growing it, or they can be made from scratch. There are hobbyist groups on the web who will send their starter for a stamped, self-addressed envelope, and there are even mailorder companies that sell different starters from all over the world. An acquired starter has the advantage to be more proven and established (stable and reliable, resisting spoiling and behaving predictably) than from-scratch starters.
There are other ways of sourdough baking and culture maintenance. A more traditional one is the process that was followed by peasant families throughout Europe in past centuries. The family (usually the woman was in charge of breadmaking) would bake on a fixed schedule, perhaps once a week. The starter was saved from the previous week's dough. The starter was mixed with the new ingredients, the dough was left to rise, then a piece of it was saved (to be the starter for next week's bread). The rest was formed into loaves which were marked with the family sign (this is where today's decorative slashing of bread loaves originates from), and taken to the communal oven to bake. These communal ovens over time evolved into what are known today as bakeries, when certain people specialized in bread baking, and with time enhanced the process so far as to be able to mass produce cheap bread for everyone in the world.
[edit] Steam leavening
The rapid expansion of steam produced during baking leavens the bread, which is as simple as it is unpredictable. The best known steam-leavened bread is the popover. Steam-leavening is unpredictable since the steam is not produced until the bread is baked.
Steam leavening happens regardless of the rising agents (baking soda, yeast, baking powder, sour dough, beaten egg whites, etc.)
- The leavening agent either contains air bubbles or generates carbon dioxide.
- The heat vaporises the water from the inner surface of the bubbles within the dough.
- The steam expands and makes the bread rise.
It is actually the main factor in the rise of bread once it has been put in the oven. CO2 generation, on its own, is too small to account for the rise. Heat kills bacteria or yeast at an early stage, so the CO2 generation is stopped.
[edit] Bacterial leavening
Salt rising bread employs a form of bacterial leavening that does not require yeast. Although the leavening action is not always consistent, and requires close attention to the incubating conditions, this bread is making a comeback due to its unique cheese-like flavor and fine texture.[12]
[edit] Aeration
Aerated bread is leavened by carbon dioxide being forced into dough under pressure. The technique is no longer in common use, but from the mid 19th to 20th centuries bread made this way was somewhat popular in the United Kingdom, made by the Aerated Bread Company and sold in its high-street tearooms.
[edit] Fats or shortenings
Fats such as butter, vegetable oils, lard, or that contained in eggs affects the development of gluten in breads by coating and lubricating the individual strands of protein and also helping hold the structure together. If too much fat is included in a bread dough, the lubrication effect will cause the protein structures to divide. A fat content of approximately 3% by weight is the concentration that will produce the greatest leavening action. In addition to their effects on leavening, fats also serve to tenderize the breads they are used in and also help to keep the bread fresh longer after baking.
[edit] Bread improvers
Bread improvers are frequently used in the production of commercial breads to reduce the time that the bread takes to rise, and to improve the texture and volume of bread. Chemical substances commonly used as bread improvers include ascorbic acid, hydrochloride, sodium metabisulfate, ammonium chloride, various phosphates, amylase, and protease.
Sodium/salt is one of the most common additives used in production. In addition to enhancing flavor and restricting yeast activity, salt affects the crumb and the overall texture by stabilizing and strengthening[13] the gluten. Some artisan bakers are foregoing early addition of salt to the dough, and are waiting until after a 20 minute "rest." This is known as an autolyse [14], and is done with both refined and with whole grain flours.
[edit] The serving of bread
Bread can be served at any temperature. Once baked, it can subsequently be toasted. It is most commonly eaten with the hands, or sometimes with a knife and fork. It can be eaten by itself or as a carrier for another, usually less compact food. Bread may be dipped into a liquid (such as gravy, olive oil, or sardine pâté), topped with various spreads, both sweet and savory, or serve as the enclosure for the ubiquitous sandwich with any number of varieties of meat, cheese, vegetables or condiments inside.
[edit] Breads across different cultures
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There are many variations on the basic recipe of bread, including pizza, chapatis, tortillas, baguettes, brioche, pitas, lavash, biscuits, pretzels, naan, bagels, puris, and many other variations.
- In Mexico bread is called pan(Spanish for bread). Although corn tortillas are the staple bread in most of Mexico, breadrolls in many varieties are an important daily food for city dwellers. Popular breads in Mexico include the bolillo roll and pan dulce. There are many varieties, about 1000. Pan dulce, which is Spanish for "sweet bread", is primarily eaten at breakfast.
- In Peru, pan has many variations due to the diversity of Peruvian cuisine. People usually eat Pan de piso, and Pan serrano. There are also some kind of bread made by potatoes, currently popular in the Andes. Bizcochos are sweet bread usually eaten with some butter and hot chocolate. A dough made with cooked pumpkin or squash, often shaped and fried into doughnuts and served with a sweet fruity dipping sauce, is a traditional favorite.
- In Spain bread is called pan, and there are many varieties, about 315. There is a region called Tierra del Pan (literally translated as "Land of the Bread"), located in the province of Zamora, where economy was in the past joined to this activity.
- In the Philippines, pandesal (or pan de sal; literally, bread of salt or salt bread) is a rounded bread usually eaten by Filipinos during breakfast.
- Germany prides itself on having the largest variety of breads worldwide. More than 300-500 basic kinds of bread come together with more than 1,000 types of small bread-rolls and pastries. It has been estimated that the basic kinds of bread are so widely varied by more than 16,000 local bakeries that more than 1,000 different breads have been presented at a 2005 Cologne bread show.[15] Germans are worldwide the biggest consumers (per capita) of bread followed by Chile[16][dubious ]
- Finland and Russia both have dark, sourdough breads made of rye. Traditional Finnish rye bread is disc-shaped, with a hole in the center for easier storing. These breads have a rougher composition and a stronger taste than wheat bread, and can thus be stored for longer periods of time. Some families may still have leaven they use for baking these bread handed down from generation to the next.
- In Britain there is a wide variety of traditional bread, often baked in a rectangular tin.
- In the United States, the most popular bread has traditionally been soft-textured, usually made with milk and slightly sweet, with a thin crust; this is the type that is generally sold ready-sliced in packages. It is usually eaten with the crust, but some eaters or preparers may remove the crust due to a personal preference or style of serving, as for afternoon tea. Some of the softest bread including Wonder Bread, is referred to as "balloon bread". Though white "sandwich bread" is the most popular, Americans are trending towards more whole grain and artisanal breads. Different regions of the country feature native bread varieties including scali (an Italian-style bread made in New England), Native American frybread (a product of hardship, developed during the Indian resettlements of the 19th century), and Jewish rye, a bread commonly associated with delicatessen cuisine. In addition, many foreign styles of bread, particularly the French baguette, the Ashkenazi Jewish bagel, Italian ciabatta, and the Middle Eastern pita bread, have become naturalized in the United States. The San Francisco Bay Area is world-famous for its crusty sourdough. In the South and Midland (chiefly), spoon bread, also called batter bread or egg bread, is made of cornmeal with or without added rice and hominy, and mixed with milk, eggs, shortening and leavening to such a consistency that it must be served from the baking dish with a spoon.
- In South Asia ( India, Pakistan, etc.), Roti or Chapati, types of flat breads, are commonly used. A variant uses mustard flour rather than white flour. Another variant is Puri, a thin flat bread which is fried rather than baked and puffs up while cooked. Paratha is another variation on Roti. Naan, however, is baked in a Tandoor or clay oven and is rarely prepared at home. White and brown breads are also very common, but not as much as Roti.
- Jews have traditionally baked challah, a type of egg bread with a thin, hard crust and a soft, well-leavened center. It is made by wrapping plaits of dough and then lightly baking them in an oven. Challah is sometimes sweetened using honey and sometimes includes raisins. During Passover, unleavened bread in the form of various types of matzo is required due to the Biblical injunction to avoid any form of leaven during this time of year. There is some debate within the Jewish community as to whether dairy products are allowed in kosher bread; some authorities maintain that bread must be strictly pareve to avoid combining meat and dairy in the same meal, while others feel it is acceptable as long as a sign of some sort (usually a different loaf shape, but others are known) is baked into the loaf to distinguish it from pareve bread.
- In Morocco and West North Africa, a round bread which is roughly four inches tall is used to eat most of the Mediterranean's watery cuisine. They also have a thick and chewy fried bread which is smothered in oil before hand. The Rghifa bread is a staple in Morocco's food and consists of several layers of lightly cooked bread.
- In Scotland, another form of bread called plain bread is also consumed. Plain bread loaves are noticeably taller and thinner, with burned crusts at only the top and bottom of the loaf. Plain bread has a much firmer texture than English and American pan bread. Plain Bread is becoming less common as the bread consumed elsewhere in Britain is becoming more popular with consumers.
- In France, pan bread is known as pain de mie and is used only for toast or for making stuffing; standard bread (in the form of baguettes or thicker breads) has a thick crust and often has large bubbles of air inside. It is often baked three times daily and is sold totally unwrapped to keep the crust crisp. Some fancy breads contain walnuts, or are encrusted with poppy seeds.
- Italy sports many different kinds of bread with its wide geographic variety and its long history of political division contributing to the development of widely different breadmaking recipes and traditions. As a rule of thumb, breadrolls are typical of the northern regions while large loaves are typical of the southern regions. Bread often has a small quantity of olive oil, butter or rendered lard mixed into the dough to make it softer and more palatable. Traditional rustic breads include Sfilatino Imbottito (a stuffed bread roll) and Pizza Bianca (a flat white bread).[17]
- Focaccia is quite popular in Italy, and is known in Provence as fougasse or as fouace in parts of southern France, the former name is becoming increasingly common and fougasse can now be bought all over France. It is usually seasoned with olive oil and herbs, and often either topped with cheese or stuffed with meat or vegetables. Focaccia doughs are similar in style and texture to pizza doughs.
- Stottie cake is a thick, flat, round loaf. Stotties are common in the North East of England. Although it is called a cake, it is a type of bread.
- Being the simplest, cheapest and most basic type of food, bread is often referred as a metaphor for "food" in general, in some languages and dialects, such as Greek.
- Christian traditional societies (usually in poor communities), used to respect bread since Jesus symbolised his body with it. The sign of the cross was performed with the knife on the bread's surface, before the loaf was cut. Sometimes it was considered a sin to desecrate bread (e.g., throw it away).[original research?]
- In China, the traditional bread is Mantou. It is made by steaming or deep frying dough made from either wheat flour or rice. In Northern China, Mantou is often eaten as an alternative staple to rice. Steamed Mantou is similar to western white bread, but since it is not baked, it does not have a brown outer crust. Mantou that have a filling such as meat or vegetables (Char Siu Bao, for example) are called "baozi."
- In Ireland, it is traditionally held that the end of a loaf of bread (the 'heel' or 'hilt' of the loaf) is the best part of the loaf. Other stories and myths surround this piece of the bread in Irish Mythology. Irish soda bread, developed to make the most of the soft wheat grown in Ireland, is unusual for a European bread in that it is a quick bread, using the reaction of buttermilk and baking soda rather than yeast to rise.
- There are different types of traditional 'cheese breads' in many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Italy and Russia.
 Challah |  Four loaves |  Pain au Levain, a French bread |  Breads and Bread rolls at a bakery |
 Tin Vienna bread |  Bread in a traditional oven |  Bread rolls | |
 Close up of sourdough bread slice |  A selection of breads |  Crustless bread covered by a mold | |
 Homemade rye bread |  A variety of breads at the Boudin Bakery. |  Sourdough breads like this baguette (left) and roundbread begin with a starter passed down from excess batter from a previous loaf. |  A chef in India prepares Rumali Roti |
 Bread-seller in front of a bakery, Damascus, 1910. |  A variety of bread in Stroud Farmers' market, England |  Slice of French Bread. |
[edit] See also
 | Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on |
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bread |
[edit] References
- ^ "Bread." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 19 February 2008. h`ttp://www.answers.com/topic/bread
- ^ Tannahill p. 37, 61, 69
- ^ Samuel p. 558
- ^ Tannahill p. 68-69
- ^ Tannahill p. 91
- ^ Tannahill p. 227
- ^ Pyler p. 703
- ^ Cockney Rhyming Slang
- ^ Russia. Britannica.
- ^ Vladimir Lenin: From March to October. SparkNotes
- ^ CBS Interactive Inc. White Bread In Wheat Bread's ClothingCBS Early Show, accessed June 14, 2008.
- ^ http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/
- ^ Nancy Silverton, Breads From The La Brea Bakery (1996), Villard
- ^ Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (2001), Ten Speed Press
- ^ http://www.biv-rheinland.de/Brotweltrekord/BWR_WDR-TV_140905.pdf Bread World Record (in German)
- ^ http://www.latinpanel.com.br/article/static/676?GlobalSectionIDOverride=2&
- ^ http://flavorsandmemories.com/pani/
[edit] Bibliography
- Kaplan, Steven Laurence: Good Bread is Back: A Contemporary History of French Bread, the Way It Is Made, and the People Who Make It. Durham/ London: Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780822338335
- Jacob, Heinrich Eduard: Six Thousand Years of Bread. Its Holy and Unholy History. Garden City / New York: Doubleday, Doran and Comp., 1944. New 1997: New York: Lyons & Burford, Publishers (Foreword by Lynn Alley), ISBN 1-55821-575-1
- Spiekermann, Uwe: Brown Bread for Victory: German and British Wholemeal Politics in the Inter-War Period, in: Trentmann, Frank and Just, Flemming (ed.): Food and Conflict in Europe in the Age of the Two World Wars. Basingstoke / New York: Palgrave, 2006, pp. 143–171, ISBN 1-4039-8684-3
- Tannahill, Reay (1973). Food in History. Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-1437-1.
- Cunningham, Marion (1990). The Fannie Farmer cookbook. illustrated by Lauren Jarrett (13th edition ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-56788-9.
- Trager, James (1995). The food chronology: a food lover's compendium of events and anecdotes from prehistory to the present. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-3389-0.
- Davidson, Alan (1999). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211579-0.
- McGee, Harold (2004). On food and cooking. Scribner. ISBN 0-684-80001-2.
- D. Samuel (2000). "Brewing and baking". Ancient Egyptian materials and technology. Eds: P.T. Nicholson & I. Shaw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 537-576. ISBN 0-521-45257-0.
- Pyler, E. J. (1988). Baking Science & Technology 3rd Ed. vols. I & II. Sosland Publishing Company. ISBN 0-929005-02-3.
[edit] External links
- A Guide to Bread
- Video How Bread is Manufactured
- Ciabatta Recipe and Guide
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ITV2 escapes ban for sexy Supernatural ad campaign
LONDON – ITV2 has escaped censure from the advertising watchdog for a press campaign for the TV programme 'Supernatural', after complaints that the ads glorified violence and connected it with sex.
The campaign, created by M&C Saatchi, featured the strapline "Scary just got sexy" to promote the series, which follows the exploits of two brothers who investigate bizarre goings-on across America.
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One ad showed a woman with glamorous hair and make-up, wearing a blood-spattered hockey mask reminiscent of the Jason character from 'Friday the 13th'. Another showed a woman in a red dress with a large knife in her hand, standing next a door with the numbers "666" on it.
Six complaints were received about the campaign, which ran in The Guardian and The Independent. ITV2 argued against them, saying that it had acted responsibly in its approach and that the images were highly stylised.
The campaign previously ran as a poster ad featuring the same words and images.
The Advertising Standards Authority agreed with the argument about the stylised campaign and said that consumers were likely to realise that they reflected the content of a TV programme. It did not uphold the complaints.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sexy Indian Ads
Adjective: sexy (sexier, sexiest) seksee
1. Marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire of interest
"feeling sexy"; "sexy clothes"; "sexy poses"; "a sexy book"; "sexy jokes"
2. Exciting sexual desire
That's what the wonderful and handy dictionary - WordWeb - describes the word "sexy" as.
Since it is difficult to be suggestive (leave alone being explicit) without inviting the wrath of the right, left and the centre in India, the sexiness quotient in Indian advertising is different from more liberal societies.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has prohibited the transmission or retransmission of the advertisements of 'Lux Cozy Underwear' and 'Amul Macho Underwear' on all broadcasting platforms with immediate effect.
Nevertheless, we have had a lot of campaigns with a lot of oomph. From the vintage to the ones from century present, I've attempted to collect some. More will follow.
Sexiness depends on the point of view (pun intended). What's sexy for one is obscene or tasteless or even loathsome for others. Here are some generalisations.
First the Amul Macho chaddi ad, which has got everyone, from the mithaiwallah to the mantri, so excited.
[Click on the images for a bigger (and better) view]
Sanah Khan with her twaing expression.
TVC
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Any gyaan on the meaning or symbolism of the word twaing?
It was Liril - and the original Liril girl Karen Lunel - which added the much needed sizzle to the world of Indian advertising.
Towel wrapped sexiness from 1975. Bombay Dyeing.
The big bad controversy. A campaign for Tuffs shoes and the hot couple Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre in the buff (except for their Tuffs shoes) and a python coiled between them.
More Tuffs. More skin.
Now here's the python with Madhu Sapre. Wonder where Milind went? Maybe the python got jealous and hungry at the same time.
Well men say that they like the 'eyes' but actually they mean what their eyes see. And you know where. Dayal Opticals do help you see better.
"Nokia N93i with extra powerful zoom." Does it zoom any closer?
That anorexic female from the Numero Uno ad. (Damn! I can't recollect her name). More of her later.
Why does Levis call them Low Rise jeans? Shouldn't they be Low Fall?
Okay, now I got it. When they fall low, others rise. All the faces in the above two ads seem familiar. Can you name them all?
I don't like the look of the new Bisleri bottle. The previous one featured in their 'Play Safe' campaign looked much better. Well, it would've been even better if the bottle wasn't there. More from the campaign in later episodes.
Dark desires. Now I got her name. Lakshmi Menon in Swatch Bijoux ad.
More of swatchy, sultry and sweaty Lakshmi.
[To be continued. Keep a tab here for updates]
10 Comments:
The anorexic model - Lakshmi Menon.
3:53 PM, July 27, 2007
bachodi said... lux cozy is not all that offending. This govt had to ban something , so they did.
9:23 AM, July 28, 2007 Rohit Talwar said... Oh man, nothing new. Fashion TV faced it and god knows what all are they going to ban. Losers. Only if they thought of things like safe water supply or proper sanitation or electricity instead of moral policing. Jerks.
2:08 PM, July 28, 2007 Solipsista said... Errr.
But I oppose Zoom channel.
Why cant they ban it instead of F?
Soumyadip said... Solipsista What's so despicable about Zoom? I don't watch the channel, so I don't know.
5:29 PM, October 02, 2007 aslesha said... the models in the levi's low rise ad campaign are:sheetal malhar,Jaese Randhawa(Jasmeet Kaur), Dipannita Sharma, Neha Dhupia, Nafisa Joseph, Viveka Babaji
4:12 PM, March 20, 2008 Soumyadip said... Aslesha: Thanks a lot. But sorry, no prizes here.
11:07 PM, March 23, 2008 Anonymous said... Hey grow up.... when this govt. will stop banning...
censor board members should broaden up their mind...
Censor's dictionary meaning is "to officially suppress or expurgate books, films, news, etc containing obscenity or threat to security..."
Why we relate censor board with exposed bodies always... ??
I think its really fine to have such adds in market...afterall nobody bans whisper or stayfree adds while kids at small age ask their parents abt it... Aren't these adds vulgar... ??
IF NOT THEN I DON'T THINK ALL THE ADDS DISCUSSED HERE ARE VULGAR AND SHOULD BE CENSORED !
No need to post such idiotic blogs...
shagun dayal said... Sometime back Hindustan Lever was in a soup for a controversial print ad for its soap brand 'LUX'. The copy lines in the ad said, "Now every girl can be a **x symbol", "**x in the morning and night makes your skin glow", "Once a girl has tried **x, she wants it everyday"…………...!!!!!!
Cool post...and what's with this sudden flurry of 'Adult' content??!!
Soumyadip said... Anonymous: We relate the Censor Board to 'exposed bodies' because they don't want us to see them. Rating is good, censorship always isn't.
Shagun: A comment from you after a long time.
I think I heard about this ad, but couldn't find it. If you have that please send it my way so that I can put it up here.
Not exactly a sudden flurry, but yes it had become more frequent for a while. Basically because I love posting them.
Latest Hindi News
When cutting edge creative fails to make the cut, what does?
Jayshree Sundar Executive Director, Leo Burnett
"I want cutting edge creative"
"Please think outside the box", "Get me something Hatke", Authentic client statements at every briefing session. Déjà vu.
And the agency is in the chase mode. In quest of the elusive cutting edge idea.
Who defines what is cutting edge creative? The Brand manager with all of two years experience? Many a breakthrough idea reaches the dustbin, before taking shape because some 'smart alec' rationalises the situation to death, or worries too much about what his boss will think. Somewhere, does anyone wonder what the consumer will feel?
So what is cutting edge creativity?
Let's start with Mahatma Gandhi, possibly the most creative Indian ever. At the core of his message was an emotional connect which maybe the masses never fully understood, but completely related to.
Peel away the layers of the independence struggle, the passion for rural development and the several volumes of writings and you'll discover the core of his being was something as simple as the search for truth.
The same search for truth a creator of cutting edge advertising displays. The execution can be humorous, sad,sexy or anything in between but the willingness to portray the truth shines through.
Years ago when a large steel major showed the world how endearing a "cold" category like steel can be in the famous "There's a little bit of SAIL in everybody's life", I wonder if the impact could be predicted in advance. Probably the most celebrated example of cutting edge creative in the last decade - simple steel objects in surprising connect with simple everyday people. A baby's diaper pin, a colonel's medal, a doctor's stethoscope. That was the simple truth. Yet it took a brave client to buy the idea-one that did not show steel rolls and bars and huge construction sites. And it took an agency the guts to bring down the idea to it's simplest, most truthful form. Steel touches your life in more ways than you can think of. Not only did the campaign sweep all the major awards, it created a major image shift for the company that took up the share price and money poured into the fixed deposit schemes.
So really, this is the definition. Cutting edge creative is advertising that is not only refreshing in its category, but is suprisingly relevant to the consumer and the culture of the times. And most importantly effective in the market place.
So cutting edge work is truly like a masterpiece by Van Gogh or any other great for that matter. Eternally brilliant. However there is one difference. Here the artist has to keep a buyer, consumer and critic in mind. No matter how brilliant or "cutting edge "the creative, it's useless if it does not cut ice with the consumer.
So what happens when it fails to make the cut? What helps?
To begin with - if the client is still around - an honest appraisal of the "inner voice" of the communication. Does it have a voice to begin with? Is it the voice of someone else? Does it bow to fashion or to common sense?
Like Gandhi, a creator of cutting edge creative is willing to go against the flow. A Nike basketball commercial is always pitched to a basketball fanatic - perhaps one per cent of the target audience at best. Never to every male 18+. A majority of Hutch consumers do not live in the world of cocker spaniels, and lyrics that go "you and I, under the sky".
This creator does his homework. Whether it's trusting his gut or figuring out a relevant platform for the message-the latter being eight-tenths of the job.
Secondly, Is the message focussed? Does the truth shine through? Or is it hidden in fashionable layers that reward the client or agency's taste more than the consumer's needs?
Evaluate: Is it disruptive? Does it go against or rise above logic? Does the consumer say "I never saw it like that?" The Dandi march surely was all those many years ago but it created fresh ground in the category of protests, one that is held up as an example till today.
Next, does the idea have strong legs? Non-violence to fight oppression was an unmistakable idea. Breakthrough…cutting edge. And one that was sustained for years. Likewise, is the creative idea extendable or a flash in the pan?
And before I venture any deeper, here is a premise that must be laid down clearly. There can a very marked difference between great advertising and great advertisements. It is necessary to spell this out at this point. Why? Because advertising is a sum total of a number of factors. The marketing brief, the creative, the media and the production. It could be one or all these factors that make cutting edge advertising. Though it is widely believed that creative is the only element that can be called cutting edge. The faster we recognise this, the more wholesome the output could be.
Here is an example of a cutting edge marketing brief. Two years ago, a gigantic FMCG major was to launch a hair wash that would be exclusive to the rural market. The brand manager swung into action briefing the agency, getting concepts ready, the works. At this point in time the CEO called for a review of the plans. On being shown the work, he commented that the work was solid and hardworking. But perhaps the brand manager needed to sell the 'concept' of hair care to farmers first, and then take on the onus of selling hair washes. Cutting edge shift in brief? Perhaps one that would work.
Similar examples can be found across media. Cutting edge breakthroughs should be sought there too. Launching a car a few years ago, the medium used to create anticipation were mannequins perched up on lampposts saying 'I will not come down till I see the hottest little thing"…The hottest little thing in this case was the teaser approach to the positioning the car. The public and the media went crazy trying to figure this one out. A simple media idea got a breakthrough response. Emerging from a brief given by the Managing Director of the company: "For one full week, the city must only talk about my new to-be-launched car," not "Let's sell a record number of cars on launch." And, by the way just that happened. Most records were broken in terms of bookings and sales.
The point I am trying to make is that exciting briefs lead to cutting edge work. Also that cutting edge work is sometimes not expensive to carry out. And can be delivered through cutting edge vehicles. So evaluate the freshness of the brief and if all elements of the marketing mix represent this, and not only the overburdened creative team.
That brings me to the most important point of this discussion. Understanding the consumer is vital to creating cutting edge work. If your work has not got the results re-appraise your understanding of the consumer. Whether you like him or not, you have to build an intimate relationship with him - one that ties your brand to him with a strong brand bond. Masculine freedom is the brand bond the consumer shares with Marlboro. Born in the 1930s, it is still very alive, relevant and wins awards till today.
There are instances where a sharp understanding of the consumer produced the cut. Where advertising was ferociously straightforward. It may not have been award-winning creative but was cutting-edge in terms of strategy - figuring out the consumers anguish with the status quo. The example of the Congress "Aam Aadmi" campaign had empathy, humanity and most of all, it connected with people. The advertising had a tone of voice which said to the deprived consumer 'I am on your side'. It represented a unique attitude. It connected. It worked. It aided a nation to change.
Also what really works is for people to stop saying 'I want cutting edge creative'. Sometimes that sets in the ridiculous. Don't say it. Don't ask for it. It creates in-ordinate pressure. Cutting edge does not need cutting edge tension. Somehow in that situation the best cannot flourish.
We have also established that cutting edge creative no longer stands for just press ads, television spots and billboards. It's been sometime since the induction of the term 360 degree, and cutting edge ideas can lurk in any of these facets. Let's look for them. Yes, refreshing consumer truths that connect with the consumer.
In the long run, the consumer is the sole and ultimate judge of cutting edge creativity. Not the client, not the agency, or award juries in five star hotels.
Nonetheless, cutting edge creativity requires guts. Can we please see some of that? Risk taking? Let's not hide behind perennial research data. A creative person, winner of many awards, told my favorite quote on this to me. "Research is like the sun. It shows you light…too much of it scorches you."
Finally, cutting edge creativity will fail once in a while.A risk taker, a revolutionary a true leader will never fail to have a 100 per cent strike rate.
http://www.etstrategicmarketing.com/SmJul-Aug04/Strategic-Article7-.html
| Nigerian Teens Flood Italy's Sex Market |
| Run Date: 01/21/02 |
| By Stephan Faris WEnews correspondent |
| Nigerian women, many of them teen-agers, now make up the largest percentage of illegally trafficked sex workers in Italy. Albanian teens are now joining them. The Italian government is trying to assist them in leaving this dangerous industry. |
|
TURIN, Italy (WOMENSENEWS)--The Nigerian girl didn't know she was going to Italy. A circuitous smuggler's route wound the 17-year-old through Ghana, Ivory Coast, England and Germany before a train deposited her near the Swiss border. There, a woman took her from her escort and confiscated her passport. "She paid him the money and told me that from then on I was to do as she asked," the girl later told a caseworker, Laura Emanuel of Gruppo Abele, a Turin-based non-governmental organization. "I had to resign myself to prostitution like all the Nigerians who come to Italy." Immigrants from the West African country make up the largest percentage of foreign prostitutes in Italy, a population that is growing. While statistics on this underground industry are by nature slippery, the International Organization for Migration Rome estimates that between 20,000 and 30,000 migrants enter the Italian sex trade each year. As in much of the rest of Europe, domestic prostitutes are yielding to ones arriving from less-prosperous and more conflict-ridden nations, a more vulnerable group and one that is increasingly including females 17 years old and younger. "Many who arrive know why they are coming," Emanuel said. "But they don't know they will never have money, that they'll be raped, hit; that they won't be able send money to their families." Italy, with its more porous borders, experienced its first wave of immigrant prostitutes when many Polish women arrived from a home country locked in a ideological struggle for democracy. The phenomenon became so noticeable that Italians began referring to prostitutes as "the Polish." They were followed by Nigerians and, after the fall of the Soviet Union, women from Eastern Europe, especially from still-Communist Albania, just across the Adriatic Sea. Two years ago, a toll-free, government hotline set up to help prostitutes began posting Albanian speakers 24-hours a day. "It's pretty difficult for undocumented women to find work," said Julia O'Connell Davidson, a professor of sociology at the University of Nottingham in England who specializes in prostitution. "However, it's not difficult for foreign women to find work as prostitutes." "Exotic" Looks Encourage Continued Trafficking of Illegal Immigrants In Italy, these women's accents and uncommon complexions become desired commodities and they quickly develop reputations for sexual appetite and ardor. Immigrant prostitutes are especially defenseless, often ignorant of local laws and subject to threats of deportation and criminal prostitution. Some have their passports taken away by their bosses. Many fear the authorities. Unwilling or unable to report attacks, they are also susceptible to violence. In 1999, 189 immigrant female prostitutes were killed, up 23 percent from 1992, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior. "These are people who come from countries where the police are not on their side," said Teresa Albano, head of the International Organization for Migration in Rome. The vulnerability is further increased when the woman is younger than 18 years old. Statistics are impossible to come by, but many groups that monitor the sex trade, including the International Organization for Migration, believe that the number of minors being trafficked for sexual exploitation is on the rise. In Italy, 85 percent of illegal, unaccompanied minors are between 15 and 18 years of age. Even younger migrants have entered Italy in recent times, especially from Albania. Government, Advocates Hope to Stem Flow of Sex Workers The International Organization for Migration has tried to warn women before they leave their countries about the fate that might await them. Television, print and radio ads illustrate the dangers of trafficking. Potential migrants receive information on visas, laws and places to go for help. Italy, too, has launched an information campaign, centered around a 1998 amendment to its immigration law, which offers trafficked women a six-month residence permit that can be converted into a regular study or work visa. The program's toll-free hotline received 188,000 calls over an eight-month period in 2000. And almost 3,000 women, including about 90 minors, have started a process that will take them off the streets. But to receive a residence permit, a woman must denounce her captors, and, often out of fear, many choose not to. As of March 2001, only 675 Italian residence permits had been issued for sex workers who entered the country illegally. These efforts target the trafficked--those women brought to Italy by fear, force or fraud, and who constitute 10 to 20 percent of the foreign prostitutes. They do little for the larger population of female sex workers who suffer under economic, rather than physical or emotional coercion, said the British scholar Julia O'Connell Davidson. Most prostitutes aren't working under threats of violence, she said. They are victims instead of tightening immigration laws that push them into unlawful employment, and to increasing economic disparities that allow some to afford to pay for sex while forcing others to submit to it for money. As Patrizia Testai, a Catania-based caseworker with Lila, a non-governmental organization offering health services to prostitutes, said, "Many prostitutes, even if they're not being physically forced, would like to change jobs." Stephan Faris is a freelance writer based in Lagos, Nigeria, who covers Africa. For more information:2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. The International Organization for Migration: TED Case Studies: |
01/02/2007
German Firm Penetrates Sex Market
Dolphin-Shaped Dildos From Deutschland
By Sebastian Ramspeck
Dirk Bauer should really have won a prize for entrepreneurship by now. He says he started out with capital of just €25 and no loans to speak of, and within just a few years transformed his company into a European market leader.
His products are largely hand-made in the northern city of Bremen. They're expensive but in strong demand around the world. He has satisfied customers in Paris, New York, Buenos Aires and Taipei.
But Germany's corporate establishment is unlikely to give Bauer any enterprise awards. That's because his company Fun Factory GmbH makes dildos and vibrators. "I've often been ask 'How can you do something like that?'" says Bauer. But his tenacity has paid off.
His workshop churns out 4,000 sex toys a day. Sales have surged from €5 million to €13.5 million since 2004. and the workforce has more than doubled in that period. He is currently installing a conveyor belt into his factory to boost output. "There's simply no other way to satisfy demand," says Bauer.
The luxury vibrators don't just look good, they're also of much better quality than cheap products from the Far East, says Nicole Wellems, who runs an online erotic store for women which predominantly sells Fun Factory dildos. "Bauer is a trendsetter," gushes Otto Lindemann, head of the world's biggest erotic products group, Beate Uhse AG. Two years ago the sex giant based in Flensburg, northern Germany, bought a 25 percent stake in Fun Factory.
It's been a success story that originated from sheer necessity. In 1995, Bauer's then partner opened an erotic store for women in Bremen. The problem was that the flesh-colored cheap imitation penises didn't sell and the store almost went bust.
Bauer, an electrical engineer by trade, bought some silicone for €25 and went about fashioning penguin and dolphin-shaped dildos in his kitchen with a friend. "The main thing was that it wasn't penis-shaped," recalls Bauer.
1.2 watt engines
The phallic Flipper has become something of a cult product among dildo aficionados. Bauer is now Chief Executive Officer of a company that has a subsidiary in the US and plans to open further branches in Spain and Japan.
With the traditional German love of technology, Bauer enthuses about the high-tech refinements of his products -- take the 1.2 watt electric motors used in the GII models. Or the ergonomic controls, custom-made by a specialist in eastern Germany.
Bauer is following the erotic industry's trend towards lifestyle and luxury. Fun Factory supplies Paris department store Le Printemps and several upmarket boutiques in New York, for example.The company has expanded its range to include cosmetics, card games and board games. But while Bauer has no trouble finding outlets in the US, France and Spain, he finds it hard to get German upmarket retailers excited about his products. "Many retailers put the phone down on me as soon as they hear the word 'erotic'," he says.
Helga Albrecht, president of the Federation of German Midwives, fondly recalls a congress in 2004 at which Fun Factory set up a sales stand. "The stand was a big hit, there were long queues of midwives." After all, the "appealing products" helped women strengthen their pelvic floors after pregnancy, she said.
Many female customers send in product feedback by email. "I'm astonished at how openly people talk about themselves," says Bauer. "Sometimes it's just too much information."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,457410,00.html
New York, USA, 2 September 2009.. October, for many investors, is the bogeyman month. It is the month when you need to be out of the market or risk losing your pants. This 'truth' is so deeply ingrained in the seasoned investor's psyche that the real truth may come as a bit of a surprise.
Japan Elections: After DPJ Landslide, can the Japanese Economy be Reformed?
Ultraman's help might be needed to reform the Japanese Economy
| May. Wall St, New York, USA, 17 August 2009. "It appears exchanges are conspiring with a privileged group of high-frequency traders in a massive fraud," Fund Manager Whitney Tilson. The World's Largest Companies in 2009 Beijing, China, 27 August 2009. There is a lot of talk of the balance of power shifting from the West to Asia, but is it really happening? According to the list of the largest companies in the world in by market capitalization in 2009 - yes it is. China's top companies command more market cap than those from the US. Sugar Prices: The Next Bull Market Singapore, 26 August 2009. Veteran investor Jim Rogers is confident sugar trading will return some sweet profits in the coming years. Rogers knows a thing or two about profits, having founded The Quantum Fund with George Soros in 1970. But why sugar? Most and Least Expensive Cars to Insure Assuming you can still afford to drive, knowing what are the most and least expensive cars to drive in terms of their insurance premiums can be important. In this guest post, we look at the most and least expensive cars to insure in the US today. India Drought: Will it Affect Indian Economic Growth? New Delhi, India, 24 August, 2009. For seven years, India has enjoyed good rains - admittedly sometimes too good - and farmers and the retailers who served them have prospered. With more than half the country now experiencing drought, the good times have come to an end. Ending Now: The World Recession Tokyo, Japan, 22 August 2009. A number of indicators are pointing to the fact that the global recession is ending now. If true, this marks a turning point for the world, which has suffered its worst recession since the Great Depression and World War II. China Trade Surplus: The Great (Re-) Balancing Act  China Economic Structure: Investment is now the largest component of GDP High Frequency Trading (HFT): Wall Street's Latest Scam Goldman Sachs and friends are hanging us out to dry with HFT Oil Prices Could Hobble Global Economic Recovery Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 15 August 2009. The Chief Economist of the IEA has warned that oil prices staying about $70 a barrel could threaten the strength of the global recovery. This is a timely warning as oil prices once again edge over the $70 mark, as they have for most of August. Why that is the case, however, is generating some debate. Brazil: The Samba Economy Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 14 August 2009. Aah. Brasil. Endless sandy beaches. Beautiful boys juggle footballs, the girls sun their perfect bodies, ready for carnival. A place of pleasure, certainly, but not a place where money is invested wisely, surely? Singapore GDP Rockets Up 20.7 Per Cent in Q2 2009 - Is the Boom Back? Singapore, 12 August 2009. In better than expected results, Singapore GDP grew 20.7 per cent over Q1 2009. Has Asia decoupled after all, and is the beginning of the recovery here? Or is it the first part of a W-shaped recession? European Economic Geography Rome, Italy, 11 August 2009. In the fourth and final installment of our series on Economic Geography, we look at why Europe will never fully unify, and which European countries have better and worse natural advantages. Chinese Economic Geography Rome, Italy, 10 August 2009. The third installment of our series on Economic Geography. For five thousand years China has maintained a unified and independent status through skillful political and military organisation built around a strong center, which currently sits in geographically poor Beijing. It manages that today through largess, particularly mandated bank loans and funding for mega projects. Russian Economic Geography Rome, Italy, 9 August 2009. This is the second in the series of 4 articles on how geography shapes politics - and military strategy. Although on the surface Russia may appear to have many of America's advantages, it is almost is complete opposite. This has always shaped both its economy and its geopolitical stance - and always will. US Economic Geography Rome, Italy, 6 August 2009. This is the first in the series of 4 articles on the surprisingly large role that geography plays in shaping national economics.Rivers offer irrigation and shipping, and ports give access to international trade. The US, Russia, China, and Europe all have dissimilar geographies, and thus their economic mandates and priorities are different. The Nabucco Pipeline: Turkey, Russia and Petro-politics Ankara, Turkey, 5 August 2009. The Nabucco pipeline is supposed to free much of Europe and Central Asia from their dependency on Russia for energy, but it is also fast becoming a pivot point for negotiations in Ankara's aspirations. The Future of Economic Reforms in Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia, 4 August 2009. This huge nation of 17,508 islands, over 300 ethno-linguistic groups and a population of 237 million has long suffered from corruption and instability, but with the landslide re-election of SBY to a second term as President, and World Bank predictions that Indonesia will emerge a 'winner' from the global down turn, hopes are high for economic reform. Mexico's Arms Trade Economics Mexico City, Mexico, 3 August 2009. With vast sums of money to be made smuggling drugs into the US, Mexico's drug cartels are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Not only are they exhibiting a military level of organisation in they way they fight - and defeat - law enforcement officials, they have sourced a worldwide network of arms suppliers. World Trade Shrinks 10 Percent, Asia Leading the Recovery Singapore, 2 August 2009. The WTO reported that world trade will slide 10 percent in 2009, with Asia being the leader in the recovery. The WTO's June forecast was that global trade would drop only 9 percent. Why Legalising - And Taxing - Marijuana Is Great Economics Oakland, California, USA, 1 August 2009. One of the problems with drugs is they usually cost a lot and are addictive. But what if we could put that money to good use and get the government addicted? This is part of the strategy being used by those who want marijuana not only legal, but taxed. India's Anomalous Media Industry sees Go-Go Growth Mumbai, India, 31 July 2009. As most of the Western world sees a dramatic decline in print media revenues India is witnessing a new era in newspaper, TV, radio and web growth. Coming Soon: The Great Bubble of China Beijing, China, 30 July 2009. China is growing at an amazing rate, and when the global economic crisis comes to a close this incredible power will inevitably emerge with more momentum than ever. But this has to taper off eventually, and when it does, it will be more than just a decline. We will see that great bubble burst. Asia Leads Recovery - in Global Consumer Confidence Manila, Philippines, 29 July, 2009. It's consumer confidence that drives markets and precedes recovery, and if the latest poll about economic sentiment around the world means anything, we could be in for good times. Canada: The Best Advanced Economy in the World Vancouver, Canada, 28 July 2009. As Americans, we often jokingly poke fun at our northern neighbor by referring to Canada as the "51st state". We say they talk funny; their baseball is no good, and their beer is overpriced. And don't forget the ice hockey jokes. But really, I think we're just jealous. |
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Sexy advertising… or should I say women and advertising? Anyone can notice that in many ads and commercials women have priority.. La femme fatale, the powerfull woman, the sexy one, all beautiful, control the market. As some say women have a greater voice in society in part due to the "selling of power". In all ads, they are considered only as being connected with their bodies. Magic words? Beauty and attraction…
Omega Watches Campaign:
Blush:
Not to hard to find your way to their store…
Hermes ad campaign:
Shot in Paris by photographer Camilla Akrans in 2006 :Stella Tennant, Vlada Roslyakova, Mathias Lauridsen and a horse.
Wallis "Dress to Kill" ad campaign: Shot in a classic monochrome format, the pictures stand somewhere between black humour and elegance. The clothes reflect the powerful attitude of the ones who love being strong, and even victorious. The women start a game of attraction through their confidence and sexuality and doom the man to misfortune. One of the most successful and instantly recognizable campaigns I could say.
More creative advertising:
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Filed under: Funny Pictures, Naughty Pictures
8 Responses to "Sexy Advertising"
http://www.weirdomatic.com/sexy-advertising.html
Watchdog clears early showing of sexy Durex ad
by Hadassah Nymark, campaignlive.co.uk, 08 April 2009, 10:30am
LONDON - A TV ad for Durex, promoting its pleasure-enhancing gel for women, has escaped a ban by the ASA.
The ad features a montage of silent clips of women apparently in the throws of sexual pleasure, accompanied by muisc from Mozart's The Magic Flute.
A female voiceover says: "Feel like never before. New Durex Play O. Pleasure-enhancing gel for women. Durex play, all you need."
Clearcast had given the ad a post-11pm restriction, but a viewer saw the ad at 10.05pm on Channel 4.
The viewer complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that the ad was offensive and overly graphic to be shown on TV.
McCann Erickson, which created the ad, said it contained no sexual scenes and limited nudity, with only male torsos being visible.
The agency believed its ad stayed within the remit of acceptable viewing and given its post-10pm broadcast, said it was unlikely that children aged 12 and under would be watching.
Channel 4 explained that occasionally they would broadcast ads earlier than Clearcast guidance depending on their programming schedule.
The ad had been timed to coincide with the film Venus, the content of which was likely to attract a suitably adult audience.
The complainant had claimed that the ad should not be broadcast at any time but the ASA found that the ad contained no explicit material and was unlikely to cause offence.
The watchdog agreed that the scheduling was appropriate and decided that no further action was necessary.
http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/897181/Watchdog-clears-early-showing-sexy-Durex-ad/
Jim Rogers probably didn't set out to make 500 bankers blush at a recent conference in Seoul. The well-known investor did just that when he encouraged South Koreans to have move babies. |
Jim Rogers probably didn't set out to make 500 bankers blush at a recent conference in Seoul. The well-known investor did just that when he encouraged South Koreans to have move babies.
Very funny and good adverts.
Very funny and good adverts
Those pictures make the ad look like in real life .Very atractive .
these are really creative i like the pole dancers
ah i love the "dress to kill" ads. very very stereotypically "sexist" but hey lol
they're all very well done
Go figure… all the risqué ones are allowed in France… if only we had the same kind of freedom here in the states
hi, do you know any more "sexist" ads, which promote men products – like beer, cigars, shower gel etc.? please reply, I need urgent info. 10x!
mad