German black bread gave me a profound horizon-broadening experience when I was a high-school kid who traveled to Hamburg, Germany as an exchange student more than 30 years ago.
A native of the land of Wonder Bread, I was astounded by the rich flavor and texture of black bread. I could actually see the whole grains and feel them on my tongue.
On weekends my host family, the Bestgens, would eat dinner as the noon meal, while evening meals would be “Abend Brot.” That meant the offerings were slices of black bread, condiments and toppings you’d use to make open-face sandwiches, which you ate with a knife and fork.
I ate black bread with mayo and sausage or tomatoes. Or we’d cover the bread with schmaltz, which was basically pork fat.
And this is why I’m pissed off at IKEA.
For several years, I’ve shopped at the international warehouse of home-improvement and hit their grocery section on the way out to buy Finax Swedish Rye Bread. Whole-grain rye bread is black bread. It’s the same stuff.
In fact, the Finax product is black bread in a box! Just add water, put it in a baking pan and do an hour in the oven. Then you have fresh bread like the kind I used to eat in Hamburg.
But this is now. IKEA has discontinued the product. Why? Because they didn’t sell enough. It got too expensive. It got unfashionable. Whatever.
A week ago my wife went to the San Diego IKEA and spoke to an actual Swede with blond braids who was working in the grocery nook, and she said a customer had just arrived and had bought out the remaining stock of Finax rye.
Anyway… black bread was a treasured part of my upbringing and it was great when I could bake it fresh, myself, after buying the batter at IKEA. But no longer.
I’m sure the Swedish retailing giant is not so sentimental about selling their rye bread dough. But they may regret their decision to discontinue it when I write an angry letter to complain.
UPDATE!!!
Since writing this screed more than a year ago IKEA has replaced its black bread product with a new brand. I describe this development in a new blog post. I feel it’s necessary to mention it here, since so many people who read Cul-De-Sac read this post. Maybe the headline is so riveting it draws people. I don’t know. But do know that this is old news. -TF
CUL-DE-SAC 