12-06-2025
This California Carb Capital Has A Law About How You Carry Bread In Public
With some of the absolute best restaurants in the country and world-class bakeries popping up left and right, foodie culture reigns supreme in San Francisco. Arguably, the city's uniquely tangy sourdough bread is just as iconic as the city's skyline, or the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Made with a special strain of bacteria that gives the bread its signature funkiness, it's hard to find a San Francisco bakery that doesn't carry the crusty delicacy. But believe it or not, there's one odd rule still on the books that might make even the most serious of bread connoisseurs scratch their heads. Despite being a mecca for all things carbohydrates, it's technically illegal to carry any bread, cakes, or pastries down the street in the city unless they're properly wrapped. That's right, after purchasing a freshly-baked loaf of sourdough bread, you must cover it up on public streets or even in your car to avoid breaking the law.
If caught breaking Section 407 of the San Francisco Health Code, which has been on the books for over a century, you could potentially face legal punishment, although the exact details of such a punishment are not specified by law. Of course, the law is rarely (if ever) enforced nowadays, and is merely a remnant of a different era in the city's history. With that in mind, if you're walking down the streets of San Francisco eating a croissant, chances are you don't need to hide it from the police.
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You might be wondering how such a strange law made its way into the San Francisco books. While the exact date of enactment and the specific reasoning behind it aren't explicitly detailed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, it's speculated that the law traces back to the early 1900s, when an outbreak of the bubonic plague (yes, that bubonic plague) made its way to The Golden City. As the plague wreaked havoc throughout the city, its residents began to panic. Chinatown was quarantined, and a slew of government officials, including the Governor of California and then-President William McKinley, put forward public health measures that were aimed at stopping the spread of the plague.
As the plague raged on, many San Franciscans believed that the infection was spread by city rats that picked up the plague from sick humans. In reality, the plague was actually spread by bacteria-ridden fleas. With all that confusion, it's not difficult to theorize why San Francisco's city officials enacted a law aimed at limiting food's exposure to the elements. It might be a bit overkill, but if breads, cakes, and pastries were covered up on the streets and during travel, they wouldn't be as likely to attract rats or accumulate any germs or pests that could cause infection. While the bubonic plague isn't of concern to San Francisco in the 21st century, this culinary leftover still serves as a reminder of a dark time in the city's history.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
