bread basket

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a region or area that produces large quantities of grain or staple food crops that feed a wider population, and by extension any source of essential nourishment and sustenance for a community or nation; historically the term was applied to the great grain-producing regions of the world — the Great Plains of North America, the steppes of Ukraine and Russia, the Pampas of Argentina — that have fed vast populations beyond their own borders through the export of wheat, corn, and other cereals; in figurative use a bread basket is any reliable source of sustenance: a community garden might be called the bread basket of a neighbourhood, a key supplier the bread basket of an industry; the phrase also refers to the wicker basket used to serve bread at table, connecting the grand geopolitical image to the intimate domestic act of sharing bread