Is the crust of bread the healthiest part of the loaf?

What I've realized as I've gotten older is that I've been dealt a pack of lies as I grew up.  One of those lies I was dealt was this one when I was in elementary school: "English is one of the hardest foreign languages to learn because it's full of complex rules and it often breaks those very same rules."  Now that I've met plenty of people from all over the world I've asked people if they thought English was hard to learn, and more often than not, they say, "Psh!  No!  English is easy!"  

For some reason this is a bit disheartening.  Maybe it was nice to know that you could do something that other people thought was hard.  Turns out it's more like me running the 200 meter dash in the inner most lane.  For some reason they put the slowest person on the inside.  Maybe it's so that I could think I was in first place.  In the first 100 meters I was always way ahead and I though, "I'm gonna win this!!"  But then everyone evens out, and I find out that I'm in last place.  Now that is a terrible feeling.  I whenever I got to that point, I always thought, "Why am I running this???  I'm a HIGH JUMPER for Pete's sake!"  Then I gave up, because it's not like I was going to get a second wind and come back in 100m.  I'm not fast... 

You know what isn't an easy language to learn?  German.  But that's not the topic of today's post. 

Another thing that I was told growing up was that the crust was the healthiest part of the bread.  You see some people don't like bread crust.  So they cut it off.  I wasn't one of those.  You didn't have to convince me to eat the crust.  I'm generally very hungry, so I devour the food in front of me whatever it is.  Unless it's french fries without ketchup; I need ketchup with my fries.   And no, I will not eat my fries with mayonnaise despite what these Europeans think.  Although I do like the curry ketchup.  And people keep telling me about this joppiesaus that I gotta try.  

Other kids I knew, however, had to be convinced to eat the crust, and for some reason, parents or teachers or whoever it was shaping our young minds, decided that the best argument was to tell us that the crust was the healthiest part of the loaf.  Of course after we learned that it was the opposite problem.  My buddies and I were sneaking into the bread cabinet rather than the cookie jar.  We were like a wild pack of Tasmanian devils  devouring just the crust and leaving the bread behind like the bones of our prey.  "We've gotta prevent cancer guys!"

So today, I was thinking about this as I was eating a delicious piece of vollkornbrot with Nutella.  I'll take a second to note: there are a couple things that I am on board with here in Germany.  One is Nutella*.  It's delicious.  Plus some things are hard or expensive to get here - things like peanut butter or maple syrup - and Nutella is a fine** substitute.  Another thing is Germany's bread.  They got this bread thing down.  German's rave about it.  They keep on talking about how Germany has such good bread, and how there are more than 500 types and so on.  For the most part, I would say that Germans are quite modest.  I haven't heard them brag about how good they are at Fußball*** even though their history in the World Cup is incredible (if you haven't heard… they won it last year).  But there are some things that they are proud of, and one of those things is bread.  It's somewhere behind the pride they have of their beer**** (that's a whole other topic).   So I've been exploring the different breads, and I've been quite impressed... Me and my buddy Alex rave about the Zwiebelbrot.

Anyway, as I was eating my bread with Nutella, I thought to myself, why would the crust of the bread be the healthiest part of the bread?  It's all the same ingredients isn't it?  To me it didn't make sense. So I consulted the internet.  And as it turns out it is true!  Turns out that some German research company did some study to find out that it has health benefits.  I'll let you do your own research, but I was relieved to find that everything I had learned growing up wasn't a lie.  Whew!  That could have been world shattering.

I don't get it though.  What is it with people that cut off the bread crust?  I really don't get it.  In fact, I think it's ridiculous.  It's why I didn't like Walter White right from the start of Breaking Bad.  In one of the first episodes he cuts off his bread crust.  What is that?  And then he has this connection with this meth dealer because this meth dealer doesn't like bread crust either?  Think about it for a second... this dealer is locked in a basement and is starving, and he can't eat the crust?  I mean really?  That's wasted food.  Forget the health benefits!  That's food right there… and you're too picky to eat the crust?  I decided right then and there that the story line was completely implausible. 

Side Stories that may or may not be relevant to anything:

*Invented during WWII by an Italian to ration the chocolate.  True story. 

**You have to say "fine" with emphasis: Imagine a really cute girl walking past and say, "Damn that girl is fine."  That's perfect.  Don't say it like you are answering the question of how you liked The Hobbit, which would be: "Eh, it was fine"  If you need an example, Brad Pitt says it in Inglorious Bastards:  "That's a FINE deal." 

*** Pronounced "foosball".  And no I don't mean the table game that we call foosball.  They call that kicker.  I'm talking about soccer.  But they are really good at kicker too.  I used to think I was ok at kicker, it turns out I am not good.  There is a whole new level of kicker over here.  I saw a guy practicing (practicing!!! Who practices foosball?  At a bar no less) and I was like, "Oh hey!  Möchtest du spielen?"  And he shrugged his solders, and was like "ok".  I think he knew he was going to destroy me.  And he did.  I got destroyed.  I now have no confidence in my foosball skills.

****American beer is better… (this statement will probably get more attention than the rest of the post :)  I can hear it now, "What do you mean American beer is better?"  "Amerikanisches Bier ist Pissen"  "What, you like Bud Light?"  Then they laugh at me and call me names… they are a bunch of bullies when it comes to beer ;)