Purchasing salt bread for Christmas Day still tradition

Purchasing salt bread from bakeries around the island just a day or two ahead of Christmas day continues to be a Barbadian tradition.

At bakeries and supermarkets visited yesterday individuals could be seen standing in long lines with one or more packs of this commodity. Three customers who spoke to this newspaper while at Carter’s Bakery in St. George said they were purchasing the bread to enjoy with ham on December 25th. Other popular purchases were fruit cakes and plain cakes. These were bought in slices as well as whole.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate, Manager of Carter’s Bakery, Marva Greene said Saturday was a hectic day. She explained this was the case “because everyone is coming to get their salt bread which is my biggest seller and most of the time people like to get their salt bread and ham at Christmas because that is kind of a tradition where people look forward for their salt bread and ham. So we usually have big sales in that area.”

She further stated that individuals were in store to collect cakes which they order well in advance.

“They are coming for the cakes too but the thing about it is, we had problems with the eggs so you wouldn’t get as many as you would really like but we are still baking cakes. You will be baking cake until tomorrow [Sunday].”

Giving a comparison of sales during this period last year and this year, Greene reported a similar response from the public.

“I would say that things are almost the same because somehow at Christmas time people just come out, find money and they want their cakes and their salt bread, they want to enjoy the Christmas.”