You Need to See This Disturbingly Sliced Bread

Referring to inventions or breakthroughs as "the best thing since sliced bread" is a functional cliche because sliced bread is both incredibly useful and has existed in the same standardized form for our entire lifetimes. Potential mold aside, when we reach for a loaf of bread, we know we're probably not going to encounter any surprises.

That may explain why one particular bread image making the rounds on Twitter is giving off some deeply unsettling vibes. The bread itself is perfectly fine, but you're not going to like seeing how it's been sliced.

It brings me no pleasure to report that you're looking at a photo of a very long, horizontally-cut "slice" of white bread. It's as if someone stood an unsliced loaf on its end and just kind of cut out a layer. Like most online images that disturb us the most, there's no real explanation for what's going on here, or where it originated from beyond the Twitter account of actor Josh Flitter. Then again, I don't know that we want to know anything more about this bread.

While many replies express confusion and discomfort with the bread, at least one poster posits that this piece of long bread has a real-world purpose in Scandanavian cuisine. In Sweden, this bread could form the canvas of the dish "landgång" (meaning gangway), where a long piece of bread (usually uncrusted) is adorned with toppings including boiled eggs, shrimp salad, roast beef, or anything else that strikes a Swede's fancy.

There's no certification that we're looking at the first stage of some landgång here, but by all means believe it if that's what soothes your troubled mind. And if that doesn't strike your fancy, maybe horizontal bread is the secret to make a good long grilled cheese.

The important thing to remember is that the long bread can't hurt you. It may be real, but it's not going to just show up in your kitchen and ruin your sandwiches unless you invite it in. Your normally-sliced bread is still right where you left it.