Economy:

In early Canada, bread was produced in the home. As communities appeared, small bakeries were established to supply village needs; some of these bakeries gradually evolved into today's major commercial baking establishments. It has been estimated that in 1900, only 8% of Canadian housewives bought bread. However, by the early 1960s, more than 95% of homemakers regularly purchased bread and the bulk of their bakery needs from commercial bakeries. Therefore, the Canadian economy and agriculture industry was booming during the late 18th century to early 19th century. The Canadian baking industry placed utmost priority on nutrition and constantly improved its products to satisfy nutritional needs. Following WWII, there was a widespread lack of iron in the general Canadian diet. This led to the decision to add iron supplements to bread. In 1953, Canadian bread was also baked with vitamin-enriched supplements. It was proven that this vitamin-enriched bread supplied necessary vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin and niacin to consumers.

Gender:

Increased growth of Women’s Organizations by the end of the 19th century reflected the increasing politicization of women. By the end of the century, a number of women's associations had achieved national stature and a federation of women's groups, the National Council of Women of Canada, was formed in 1893. Following these advancements, several women became more outgoing and did not duly perform their roles as housewives. Therefore, they looked for alternate ways to satisfy their familial responsibilities quickly and easily. Therefore, they prefered to buy bread rather than spend time making it themselves. The tagline, “It talks of thrift, it talks of convenience, it talks of good-for-you, good-to-you eating (Toast Talk by Weston,pg 2)” must have attracted a lot of housewives as this was exactly what they were looking for. In conclusion, the reformation of the role of women during the 1880s must have benefitted the Weston company by increasing sales.

Industrialization:

Canada’s introduction to industrialization altered several former social patterns. The 1840s saw the emergence of the mechanized industry in Canada. Introducing machines to do hard labour was seen as more reliable and therefore was implemented into several famous entities of the time, including Weston. This allowed bread to be produced in exponential amounts at quicker rates, ultimately increasing sales. Old entities established by the British were abandoned to create new trading entities for the contemporary world. Following the feasibility of fresh bread being available in several bakeries, numerous women began to buy bread rather than make it starting in the late 1800s. Therefore, the rise of industrialization in Canada during the late 1880s paved the way for the advancement of the wheat industry and increased the overall revenue generated by the agriculture industry.

Technology

As we continue to talk about the impact of toast on the Candian lifestyle, we must address the development of the toaster. The first electric toaster was invented in 1893 by Alan MacMasters in Scotland. However, there were several malfunctions with this model and many consumers complained about burnt toast. It wasn't unitl 1919 that the electric pop-up toaster was invented in Minnesota. Following this model, several pop-up toasters were created. Now there are several varities and brands of toasters available. Today, a toaster is seen as a daily necessity product. However, it is key to note that it was initally seen as a luxury product.