New Delhi, May 4 -- Perhaps the only thing Germans enjoy more than going on holiday, claims Michael Kress, a baker in Baden-Wurttemberg, is "coming home to buy their beloved bread at the bakery". Germans' love for their own loaves can come off as arrogant: last year Friedrich Merz, the chancellor, offended Angolans by complaining he could not find "a decent piece of bread" in their country. But every nation has its cultural touchstones, and on May 5th, while the Dutch hold their annual commemoration of liberation from German occupation in 1945, Germans will be celebrating the day of German bread.

Germany has what may be the most diverse bread culture in the world. The official bread registry overseen by Germany's national bread institute...