HOW Did This Get Started In The First Place?
Good Lord…someone on TV said the “s” word. NO, NOT THAT ONE…”SNOW!”
And you know what that means, all of the sudden there is a desperate rush on milk and bread. This has driven me absolutely crazy since we moved to Greenville, SC, in 1995.
I thought it was a “Southern” thing, as we’re just not equipped to think straight about snow and realize that milk is a perishable item (so if you’re power goes out…).
BUT
Believe it or not, New England takes the credit for this tradition as they made a run on milk and bread prior to a monumental blizzard in 1978 that trapped many in their homes for weeks.
However, in 2014, writer Virginia Montanez tasked herself to solving the mystery of the “milk and bread” origin for Pittsburgh Magazine. She found a newspaper reference to milk on November 24, 1950, that read “the one shortage that has hit all sections.” Also, she uncovered a mention of bread as being “doled out in some stores” due to nearly three feet of snow.
So…who knows?! All I know is if snow is coming-even less than 1/8 of an inch-good luck finding milk or bread on the store shelves. And don’t get me wrong, there is NOTHING I have against getting a loaf and gallon for the family. It’s the stockpiling for a “snow-pacolypse” (that is NOT coming), that makes me nuts.
Oh, and if you are one reading this and yelling, “You need milk for snow cream!”
Yes, you do…but not the 6 gallons you had in your buggy, right? <g>
