There's a Subreddit About Stapling Bread on Trees

Humans are fascinating. We build communities over mutual interests all the time. From mothering, to book clubs, to travel, people come together regardless of background, showing us how much more we have in common than we thought.

Most recently, one community that has forged tight bonds internationally is one called BreadStapledToTrees. Its online group has over 243,000 members.

In a Reddit thread, users share their experiences stapling perfectly fresh bread… to trees. And leave them there. It is not clear on the subreddit page why community members do this.

The community of dedicated bread staplers take their hobby seriously, experimenting with different bread types, tree species and in various countries.

And if you see yourself joining, you better take it seriously because the first rule of the group is “Don’t post non-bread.”

And it also better be bread stapled to trees, according to rule two. If you want to screw your bread to trees, there’s another subreddit for that. As there is for bread nailed to trees, so please ladies and gentlemen, keep to the staples.

If that’s something you can stick to, then be prepared to enter an exciting world of challenges.

Start with trying out what type of bread to tree combo fits your personality best. Multigrain on Honeylocust? Honey wheat on Magnolia? French toast on bark? Or find your own pairing.

But be patient, sometimes it takes a few days to get your first bread up. As user BiggestCheeseBread said on his first post: “First staple! Had to wait a few days until no one would see me.”

Members also staple at night, in new environments, with new people. It’s apparently a great ice breaker. Take for example, user Stew805 who used it as a get-to-know activity with their new roommate. “Bread and beans on oak with the new roommate,” their caption read above a photo of two bread and bean sandwiches stapled to a tree.

Meanwhile, user SaiikaHD goes bread stapling as a date activity with their boyfriend:

Others push even further in an attempt to break bread stapling ground. User Shadow_Implosion for instance, attempted to staple what appears to be 10 slices of bread to a tree in what they call “one small step for bread, one giant leap for bread stapling culture.” It is unsure whether they were successful in stapling all ten slices.

Frazzman, another Redditor, said “I give it a 5/7, it’s perfect.” User Diabegi was so impressed at the attempt, he said: “Welcome to the Breaderhood.”

Is there a higher-tier group for the pros of the bread staplers? That’s an investigation for another day.

But it’s not all a competition. Many Redditors put their bread stapling skills to use.

Try bread as a decorative tool, as user Sk00terankle420 did: “My school needed some decoration,” he said about his stapled bread.

And, perhaps in the most creative use of bread stapling, one user used it to ask their date out to homecoming.

Precisely why people staple bread on trees or how it all started however, remain a mystery.

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