For those unaware, this is exactly the main point of the story "Unauthorized Bread" by Cory Doctorow. I liked the story and would recommend it.

A link to an exerpt: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-...

(The excerpt contains the story in its entirety. It's excerpted from a book that consists of multiple stories.)

Radicalized (2019). Four novellas, including the bread one. I just happened to have read it last week; it's a solid collection of stories. Model Minority from that collection is a good story as well.

That was a great story. Thank you for linking it.

Seconded. Well worth reading.

Thank you for sharing this!

Also the part where the toaster version is outdated and it won't start toasting before it's up to date.

It's because it mines Bitcoins to generate heat, so it must be connected to the Bitcoin network.

Also the part where the toaster version is 6 years out of date and someone gains root access and deletes all your data

As an avid toast data-logger that would really put me over the edge. I have 9 years of daily toast data and I graph it in interesting ways a la Mr. Wolfram

But you don’t store your toast data in the toaster do you?

The cloud is just somebody else’s toaster.

Every slice has unique nooks and crannies to create a 2D pattern, allowing for DRM and personalization!

…Are they selling NFTs for the finished, unique works of “art”?

Toast is licensed, not sold. You are given a perpetual non-exclusive license for use of resultant toast. Upon termination of contract, you are to return all toast in its original form to the licensing entity (whoever it is this week).

Non-fungible toast?

I'd buy toast that can't grow fungus.

I'm sure there are FDA-approved additives that'll achieve that.

Personalization so they can never be returned, right?

---

Pepperidge Farms.... D: NOOOOOO

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/pepperidge-farm-original-...

My grandmother made those in her Sunbeam toaster before loading them with room-temperature butter and Laura Scudder's smooth peanut butter. (Yes, my grandmother kept butter at room temperature but refrigerated the eggs. Go figure... grandmothers.)

> My grandmother made those in her Sunbeam toaster before loading them with room-temperature butter and Laura Scudder's smooth peanut butter. (Yes, my grandmother kept butter at room temperature but refrigerated the eggs. Go figure... grandmothers.)

American commercial eggs (and this has been true for a long time) need refrigeration because thet are washed, which reduces surface pathogens but compromises the eggs natural resistance to environmental pathogens and spoilage. Meanwhile, in most climates, butter is safe out of refrigeration. So, your grandmother was doing it right.

Get yourself one of these: https://www.butterbell.com/

We buy the single brick of European butter for toast and daily use. It stays in the butter bell on the counter. We also buy sticks of unsalted butter for cooking and baking. Those live in the fridge until needed. Thaw on the counter in the morning if you need it soft when cooking.

How you gonna spread cold butter? :)

Yeah, standard American kitchen: butter on the counter (in a semi-airtight butter tray) and eggs in the fridge.

I have never seen anyone in America keep their butter on counter and not in the fridge. I have lived in 7 states in both coasts and upper Midwest.

Generally, I assumed if it’s in the refrigerator in grocery store (which butter is) then it goes in refrigerator at home.

You don't keep all the butter on the counter, just one stick in a butter dish at room temp so it's spreadable.

I assume that's what you're talking about. Keeping the butter dish in the fridge at all times would be pretty strange--butter is good for weeks at room temp, far longer than a single stick is likely to last.

City folk vs country folk? Wagering a guess, chilled butter won't squash during handling so manufacturers, transporters, and retailers keep it cold? I think it's odd to keep open sticks of butter in the fridge. Spreading cold butter is a pain. Ghee is seen in stores outside of refrigerated sections.

Butter starts to go off after a few weeks at room temp, which is plenty for a single stick in the butter dish at home but mildly inconvenient for shippers and retailers, or people who like to buy staple ingredients in bulk. It lasts for many months refrigerated, though.

One cube goes in the tray, the rest stays in the fridge. Otherwise making toast for breakfast would be impossible because you'd have to wait an eternity for the butter to soften, at which point you'd be late for work/school/etc.

How do you spread the butter then?

Or do you mean something else than butter?

I grew up on a farm and the first first 15 or so years of the life ordinary butter was the onlh alternative.

It had to be kept in a jar at the counter or it would become unusable.

Take out the butter you need beforehand to thaw. Or I’ve seen people microwave for 5 seconds. My family stopped using butter outside of occasional uses years ago though due to saturated fats.

Generally, I see people using the spreadable alternative to butter though.

Thin slices, then spread those.

I don't spread it. I put it on like a slice of cheese. So I prefer it to be really cold as it's easier to slice. Damn, I love butter on hot toast XD

> You forgot the part where it refuses to toast your unlicensed bread.

The RFID chips make the toast taste better!

A QR code is baked on the backside on it in the bakery. People with too much time (and bread) on their hands soon figure out which spots you need to darken with a clothes iron so the checksum still matches and the toaster accepts the slice.

The toast is coated with special chemicals which will cause the body of anyone whose genetic code does not match the license owner to reject it.

>The toast is coated with special chemicals which will cause the body of anyone whose genetic code does not match the license owner to reject it.

welcome to paradise!

I self-chip my homemade gluten-free bread with Doritos Flamin' Hot Limon.