The Bread Trick

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I learned this trick a long time ago, but it still comes in handy to this day.  I brought this knowledge with me when I moved to Duluth, MN in eighth grade.  I showed it to a lot of people, and by the time I was in High School it had gotten around quite a bit.  As far as I can tell, the bread trick fad was localized to the Duluth area, but I didn't come up with it myself, so that means that it had to come from somewhere else.  If you have ever heard of this trick, send me an email at  I'd like to hear from you.

In order for this trick to be funny, you have to have at least a couple of people around to watch (besides you and your volunteer).  So it tends to be great for parties.

 

Here's what you'll need:

1 slice of bread
1 glass or cup (I usually use a tall glass)
several matches

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  1. Obtain a volunteer (this may be the most difficult part).  Try to pick someone who has a good sense of humor.  You can tell them that you are going to perform the bread trick on them, but don't tell them what it is.
  2. Jenny happened to be the voluteer In the pictures shown above.  I'll asume that your voluteer is also named Jenny.  Have Jenny lay down on the floor and lift up her shirt just enough so that you can fit a piece of bread on her stomach without exposing anything that you shouldn't be.  Make sure that the bread is soft enough to stick matches in and not have them fall over.  You probably should moisten the bread by adding water, but be careful, it is *really* easy to overdampen the bread.
  3. Place the slice of bread on her stomach, and stick a few matches in the middle of the bread with the tips right side up (kind of like candles on a birthday cake).
  4. Light these matches, and then place the glass upside down on top of them.  Make sure to press down on the glass so that there is an air tight seal.  The matches will be underneath (inside) the glass and will soon run out of oxygen.  Once the matches go out, the air cools down and creates a partial vacuum which sucks Jenny's stomach into the glass.  At this point Jenny will probably be very startled and say something funny and/or have an interesting expression on her face.

From my experience, this has never failed to produce laughter from everybody in the room.  If you try this out, I would love to hear how it went for you.

I assure you that this trick is safe, although some people may experience a temporary hickey.