I Don't Wanna Be Bread

Submission 41,459

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About

I Don't Wanna Be Bread refers to a series of photoshops and fan arts which imagine various animals and characters as a lump of dough that is being turned into a loaf of bread, with the characters stating that they do not wish to be turned. Originating from a humorous Kot 4chan post, the meme gained significant popularity following a viral dubbed version in November 2019.

Origin

On May 14th, 2018, an anonymous 4chan^[1] user posted an image of Kot photoshopped onto a lump of dough, writing "NOOOO I DON'T WANNA BE BREAD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" (shown below). The /s4s/ thread received over 22 replies.

Spread

The post did not see major spread online until March 2019. On March 21st, 2020, Redditor^[2] LulJayc132 posted a screenshot of the thread to /r/MEOW_IRL subreddit, gaining over 8,700 upvotes. On March 23rd, 2019, Redditor^[3] Lawan1314 posted an Everyone On 4chan Should Be on a Terror List meme that gained over 30,400 upvotes in six months (shown below, left). On April 8th, 2019, Facebook^[4] group Augmentations posted the first known derivative meme based on the meme (scrapped post^[5] shown below, right).

On July 19th, 2019, Tumblr^[6] user stupidpetface combined the original image with another cat-bread photoshop, with the post gaining over 15,000 likes and reblogs in nine months (shown below, left). An August 24th repost^[7] of the image in /r/me_irl subreddit received over 6,200 upvotes. On August 25th, Redditor^[8] mister-mafew posted an image macro based on the original meme to /r/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, gaining over 1,500 upvotes in six months (shown below, right). On August 27th, Twitter^[9] account @RussianMemesLtd posted the meme which was translated into Russian by an unknown user, with the tweet gaining over 1,400 upvotes and 5,800 likes.

The format did not see further spread until early November 2019. Prior to November 3rd, 2019, an unknown user posted a dubbed version of the meme, voicing the caption. The earliest found post of the clip was made by Instagram^[10] user holycrapiwanttodie on November 3rd, 2019 (shown below); a November 4th repost of the clip by iFunny^[11] user BeefboyTv received over 830 smiles. A November 10th, 2019, reupload by YouTube^[12] user DISWAVE 1919 received over 160,500 views in six months.

The viral spread of the video prompted a surge in the popularity of the meme, inspiring fan art. On November 7th, 2019, Twitter^[13] user @MahsiraWingtail posted the earliest known redraw of the meme, gaining over 130 retweets and 600 likes (shown below, left). On November 26th, 2019, Twitter user @psychoorbevil posted^[14] a version featuring THE iDOLM@STER idol Riamu Yumemi, adding a second panel. The post received over 2,600 retweets and 8,400 likes (shown below, right).

The latter post resulted in the mutation of the meme format, with the caption "Being Bread Is Fine Actually, I Don't Care Anymore" being reused in further memes.