Pretzel Myth 5: It’s a Roman Thing

Reader Michael F. submits this whopper by way of his Scottish grandmother:

The Pretzel was Roman, but they invented it when they invaded the British Isles…they took English wheat to make their traveling biscuits but it was too soft to make the hard biscuits that they made with their own flour so the shape was developed so that the bread would stand up to travel…

I believed that when I was little kid…now I just ask why they didn’t bake smaller loaves or something…

That’s a fair question. Also, what would the curves and loops have done to increase durability? The answers must have been lost when the Library at Alexandria burned.