Making Bread Great Again

Stephen Jones has a question for America: “Why is our bread so damn white?”

It’s a question with a host of answers. White flour tastes sweeter. It’s predictable, and easy to work with. It’s efficient. It’s stable. And all of this is reinforced by habit.

But Jones, who’s the director of the Washington State University-Mount Vernon Research Center and the Bread Lab, doesn’t find any of those answers satisfying. Instead, he’s breaeding new varieties of wheat, and pushing consumers to expect more of their loaves—more nutrition, more flavor, and more variety. He spoke on Tuesday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, perched on the edge of the stage, his legs dangling below, with a soft voice and an endearing grin.

Humans have been baking grain into breads for 30,000 years. For the last couple of millennia, some have been sifting the flour, making it whiter. “We’ve taken something that’s so beautiful and so pretty—that wheat kernel—we’re