Evening star., 1951-12-06
Gl in Korea
'Hon1esick'
For Bread
By Violet FouIkner
Food Editor,

I'm homesick for some Of your
good homemade whole wheat
bread. Enclosed is $500, will you
please air mail me a couple of
loaves?"
The above note had an APO
number. San Francisco, and was
mailed to Mrs. Margaret Rudkin
at her farm in Norwalk, Conn.
The CT explained he was station
ed in Korea, didn't care what
it cost to send the bread, but
please send it air mail. Mrs. Rud-
kin returned the $2.00, sent the
bread and has been sending him
two loaves a week ever since.
"Bread cast upon the waters,
she told me recently returned to
her last Christmas in the shape
of a lovely antique piece of
Chinese lacquer inlaid with
mother-of pearl. It looks as
though at one time it might have
been a court fan, she thinks.
By now most people are familiar
with the story of how Margaret
Rudkin, wife of New York stock
broker. first began to make her
famous whole wheat bread. Her
youngest son, now grown to man
hood. developed serious case OF
asthma at the age of nine. Doc
tors recommended taking him to
Arizona but Mrs. Rudkin, who be-
lieved strongly there was a def1n-
ite tie-up between good food and
good health. decided to put him
on an ideal diet and keep him
home.
Like Grondmother's Breed
One of her first moves was to
give him the kind of bread her
mothers mother used to make..So,
In the summer of 1887, she turned
out her first experimental loaf of
whole wheat bread. She bought
the wheat at local feed store
and ground it in her kitchen cof-
fee mill. 1t was a coarse textured
bread but her son liked it and
seemed to thrive on 1t. News of |
her venture soon spread and be-
fore she knew it she was in busi-
ness, employing help to keep pace
with the demand. Even healthy |
people wanted the loaves. From
that humble beginning she now
turns out over 40 thousand loaves |
of whole wheat and white bread
a day. She knows she is a prob
lem child to the baking indus
try. because. according to the
accepted rules of the big bread
factories. her methods are back
ward. She still holds to the old
fashioned idea used by her grand
mother. You can't make home
made bread in a machine, so all
kneading is done by hand. People |
won't believe it until they visit the
farm" she says.
Firmly believing that women
have more talent for making good
bread than men, 80 per cent OF
her employees are women {. . many
of them elderly women who spend
the day kneading bread. She also
has a rule that none of these
women bake bread at home :.
she's afraid they will introduce a /
few tricks of their own.
She is not in favor Of sliced
bread and fervently says, May
the good Lord forgive me" for
doing such a thing to an honest
loaf of bread. But popular de-
mand forced her into it. She
readily admits her Pepperidge
Farm bread (the name taken from
an ancient pepperidge tree on
the farm is not one of the most
popular loaveS on the market, but
that doesn't disturb her one whit.
I'm only trying to please the
minority who want a good loaf of
bread and are willing to pay
for it."
Mrs. Rudkin keeps on hand a
months supply of unbleached
flour which she buys from a mill
ing company in Minneapolis.
Trror, %he eopoa aor,no~xy che Io,,1,e