Marketing Irish Bread in Boston, 1959

Homemade, authentic Irish bread seemed to be a fashionable topic in Boston throughout 1959, with dozens of recipes for Irish soda bread appearing in The Boston Globe and other local newspapers.

"Irish bread has many delicious variations," notes a headline in the Globe in March 1959.

Described intermittently as soda bread, raisin bread, currant bread and griddle bread, the recipes came from professional cooks and Irish immigrants, including a printed recipe that was "used by the St. Columban Sisters."

Irish bread was also advertised in the Globe by Goodbody's Irish Soda Mix, a new product on the market that allowed Boston families to make their own soda bread from a mix. It was described as "a fruit-filled, crisp-crusted breakfast delight, dinner treat, party favorite."

And O'Connell's Irish Oatmeal Bread, made and distributed by American company Bond Bakers advertised heavily in the Globe from June through October. The advertising images depicted a rural Irish setting where local farmers perfected a new Irish oatmeal bread that became so popular it had to be delivered by "donkey cart far and wide."

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