The first week of July we have a family gathering at my place. There's always a lot of good food and we always have too much. It's great for everyone to take a plate home, something to have around the house a couple of days to munch on, and even a few goodies the dogs can eat.

This year I threw the buns in a plastic box to keep them fresh throughout the day. After everyone had eaten and taken what they wanted, I cleaned up the mess and while doing so, nonchalantly put the box in the cabinet and basically forgot about it.

Today as I was cleaning the kitchen cabinets, I realized the box of buns was still there. I felt a little ashamed that I had let so much bread go to waste as I pulled the box out of the cabinet. When I opened the lid I expected to see a couple of bags of green, fuzzy, buns. But much to my surprise they looked, well, normal.

I pulled one of the buns out of the bag and checked it out. It smelled right, it looked fine, and other than a tiny bit drier, they appeared just as they had almost seven weeks ago when I had purchased them. I even tasted one. Tasted like bread. Not a single speck of mold on a single bun, in either bag. And yes, one bag had been opened back in July.

Now, I know that I don't have the world's most efficient bread box that magically keeps bread fresh forever. So I ask myself, what in the world are we putting in our bodies when eating this stuff? What kind of preservatives are manufacturers putting in our food so that even bread will stay virtually fresh and without mold, for seven weeks?