Bimbo

Spain has one of the top culinary reputations in the world. However, it is not known for it’s bread and for good reason. That being said, there are a few places to get excellent bread in Barcelona. I will get to that in a minute. Unfortunately, like many families with small children, we’ve resigned ourselves to eating, for the most part, a slightly inferior quality of bread. In the USA there is Wonder Bread and in the UK, they have Mother’s Pride, both brand names that conjur up images of wholesome deliciousness. Most of the Spanish speaking world however (including Spain), eats Bimbo bread.

In its defense, Bimbo has no particular meaning in Spanish. Rather, the Mexican company came up with the name in 1945 because they thought it would compete well with the existing “Bambi” and “Dumbo” brands.

It seems that Bimbo won the competition because Grupo Bimbo is now the number one bakery in the world, dominating the bread market throughout much of Latin America, China, Europe and the US. After a bit of research I found out that Bimbo in Spain is really operated by Sara Lee bakeries (I bet you didn’t know she was leading such a risqué double life), while Bimbo in the USA is the company behind several popular brands such as Popoli and Entenmann’s.

There is even a “Pan American Bimbo Award.” Among others, last year’s winners included esteemed Harvard professor Dr. Hannia Campos. I’m sure that she displays in in a place of pride.