Breadbox

They were a more common household kitchen item until bread started being made commercially with food preservatives and wrapped in plastic.

Staling is a process of retrogradation, in which the starch transposes to a crystalline form in the presence of the water contained within the bread itself.

The process speeds up at cooler temperatures,[3] such as under refrigeration, and thus bread stored at room temperature remains fresher for longer periods than refrigerated bread.

[4] Frozen bread, however, traps the moisture as ice, and prevents the staling process.

was popularized by Steve Allen on the American game show What's My Line?, where it became a running gag after he initially asked the question in 1953.