Visual Wednesday: Pseudo-scientific experiments on Gardenia and Massimo Bread

I've blogged before on the issue of Massimo and Gardenia bread. However I'm a bit  conscious  on my bias towards Gardenia bread as I eat it everyday.

So I decided to conduct a series of experiments to determine the better bread. 

vs.

(Disclaimer: I bought the Gardenia yesterday while Massimo this afternoon.)

By right this Massimo line is not a direct competitor with the Gardenia line. The Gardenia bread is Wholegrain Fibremeal bread while Massimo is Sandwich Loaf with Wheat Germ.

Other details:

Both breads don't have the addresses of its bakery only their corresponding distributors.For Gardenia it is in Shah Alam while Massimo in Sungai Buloh.

1. The Nutritional Test


The purpose of any food is in its nutritional values that kept humanity going.

	Massimo	Gardenia
Weights	400 gram	400 gram
Price	RM 2.50 (intro price)	RM 3.20
Number of Slices	12	14
Servings per Package	6	7
Serving Size	67 g (2 slices)	57 g (2slices)
Energy per serving	181 kcal	137 kcal
Carbohydrate per serving	32.3 g	22.3 g
Protein per serving	5.6 g	7.0 g
Fat per serving	3.3 g	1.7 g
Cholesterol per serving	0 mg	0 mg
Dietary Fibre	1.7 g	4.0 g
Thiamin (Vitamin B1) per serving	0.5 mg	n.a.
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) per serving	0.3 mg	n.a.
Niacin (Vitamin B3)	4.7 mg	n.a.
Calcium	134 mg	159 mg
Iron	4.0 mg	4.2 mg

Source: Massimo and Gardenia packaging

Winner: Gardenia
Gardenia slices are 10 gram lighter but it managed to pack more nutrition in it.

2. Taste and Texture Test (highly subjective)

A slice of Massimo bread

A slice of Gardenia bread

Based on my taste bud, I've found that the middle part of Massimo is softer than the Gardenia. However the crust is another story. 

To compare both crust of the bread, I've decided to fold the ending slice of  each bread into two, creating a spine. This is just an indirect way to test the crust 'hardness'. This is the results:

Gardenia

Massimo

In deciding which bread is superior, I've decided to be bias. When I was young, I hated bread crusts so much that I won't even touch the bread if my mother don't cut them out. However your whims after awhile won't be entertained by your parents, hence I have to cut the crusts myself. I am lazy and I've decided to tolerate eating crust since then. 

Winner: Gardenia

It took a lot of effort for me to tolerate bread with its crusts. However I won't increase my threshold this time around. 

3. The Turkey Sandwich

I decided to run this experiment today when I realised that I have 2 slices of cold cut turkey and 2 leaves of lettuce for lunch. Therefore why not use both bread to make a sandwich. This is the result:

To ensure the test integrity, I've spread a teaspoon of mustard on both slices (by the way, Massimo is on the top and Gardenia is the bottom one). 

While I was eating, I squeezed both side of the bread to find out whether the mustard tears any of the bread holding the turkey cold cut. Both passed the test considering I've only use a teaspoon of mustard. 

A teaspoon of mustard with Massimo slice

Come to think about it I should put more mustard to really test the structure of the bread. However I won't be risk my lunch getting spoilt.

Winner: None (Experiment fails)

4.  Focus Group Test

To improve my findings, I've conducted a simple focus group test with my colleagues. Basically it is a blind test requiring them to rate the crusts and middle part of both breads.

This the only picture I take during the blind test. Clearly I can't multitask both photographing and testing.

The focus group consists of Elina (in-house health guru),  Natalie (in-house newspaper columnist) and Zarina (in-house Japanese expert). 

The focus group found that:

• Massimo bread center  is better than Gardenia 
• Gardenia bread has better crust than Massimo

Winner: It's a tie.

I made a big mistake in this experiment as I should as them to assign score for every piece of bread tasted.

Summary:

1. Nutritional Test: Gardenia

2. Taste and texture test: Gardenia

3. The turkey sandwich test: Fail

4. Focus group test: Tie

As of January 19 2012 it is clear the Gardenia Wholegrain Fibremeal bread is better than Massimo Sandwich Bread with Wheat Germ. The dynamics between the two bread might change in the future. It is certain that the price of Massimo will be raised to RM 3.50 in future (the RM2.50 is just the intro price). 

Since I've settled the issue of bread taste here, I like to point out that both Tradewinds Group (Gardenia-shareholder that is connected to Syed Al-Bukhary) and Federal Flour Mills (Massimo-shareholder connected to Robert Kuok) both the same evils. According to the Royal Custom Department, importing wheat/flour to Malaysia requires import licensing or AP (which both Tradewinds through United Malayan Flour and FMM have). At the same time is also prohibition to import wheat flour to Malaysia. This is a clear case of industrial policy use to protect companies.

If any Malaysian want to make Gardenia and Massimo bread an issue, they should look closer at firms that control the supply of its input. So even the act of buying bread in small bakeries in a way enriches these capitalists.