Forget low-carb, gluten-free diets, praise the loaf and celebrate National Bread Week

According to an amateur social theorist of my acquaintance, the reason supermarkets flogged so many bread machines during the Celtic Tiger was not to satisfy the homemaking whims of a time-starved nation but because nothing sells a house like the smell of fresh baked bread, the enticing aromas triggering associations with ‘home’ in potential purchasers.

Supermarkets have long tapped into bread’s olfactory potential, sometimes even piping baking smells around the store.