What were we eating back then? (Comon Japanese eating habits from the late 1950s to the early 1960s)　2　Bread

Let me continue my story about what we ate in the later 1950s to early 60s. This time, I'd like to write about bread.

Based purely on my memory, I believe that in the 1950s, rice was the staple of the Japanese diet, and bread was something we ate occasionally as a substitute for rice. Of course, there were bakeries in town, but they mainly sold bread from bread manufacturers, and bakeries selling elaborate, homemade breads like those we have today were still rare.
I have a memory from when I was an elementary school boy. During homeroom, we would sometimes share what we had for dinner the night before, and when one student said he had a sandwich, the other students reacted with, "What? Bread for dinner?" It was common knowledge that rice was the standard for dinner. It was still the dawn of bread culture, and I think it wasn't until the early 1960s, when school lunches with bread started in elementary schools all over the country, that bread began to be recognized as a central part of meals. Because of that, as a child, I had a longing for bread as a special, sweet food.

For me gleaming is the bread. I remember occasionally eating it for lunch. Back then, in the suburbs of Tokyo where I lived, bakers would come around selling bread in large, square wooden boxes on the back of their bicycles. The bicycle baker would come right up to the window of our single-story house, and my mother would buy the bread through the window. To digress a little, back then, a wide variety of food items were loaded onto bicycles or small three-wheeled trucks called auto sanrin to residential areas and sold in squares or sometimes in front of individual houses.
For lunch, we ate sliced ​​bread, usually a loaf cut into 6 or 8 slices. As a snack, we had sweet breads called "amashoku," which were cone-shaped, less moist, and had a castella-like flavor; twisted bread (a twisted, stick-shaped donut); anpan (sweet bean paste buns) with a savory something on the top; jam buns; and chocolate cornet. I think we also had melon bread, but I don't remember clearly. I think these still exist today, but back then, those were the only sweet breads available.
As for savory breads, hamburgers hadn't even appeared yet. I vaguely knew of hot dogs from American dramas and cartoons, but I rarely saw one in real life.
　
I attended kindergarten from the age of four, and twice a week we could order sweet buns from an outside bakery for lunch. I was always really looking forward to eating them. Twisted buns were especially delicious. I think that led to my love for fried bread served in elementary school lunches.
The bread served in elementary school lunches was a type of hot dog bun. We would spread margarine, wrapped in aluminum foil like silver paper, or strawberry jam in a small transparent packet.
At that time, I think the focus was on nutrition above all else, and taste was secondary. However, many of the things served in elementary school lunches were things I had never eaten at home, so I usually enjoyed them because they were novel.
Among them, the fried bread was a hot dog bun that was fried and sprinkled with sugar, and it was an extremely popular item among the pupils. At the elementary school I attended, there was a kitchen where school lunches were prepared, and the fried bread was also made there. I could peek into the kitchen through the large window, and as an elementary school puiple, I would get excited during the break between the second and third periods, watching bread being fried in a big pot and eagerly anticipating eating it.

As for meals centered around sliced ​​bread, I remember that on Sunday mornings, perhaps only in my household, we would have a Western-style meal of toast with butter. Sometimes my mom would put thinly sliced ​​ham in the bread. I think we also had canned potage soup and tea on the side. We would eat in a tatami room with the toaster and these foods on a low table. At those times, classical music would be playing from a vacuum tube radio. Looking back now, I think those were simple but peaceful and incredibly happy moments.