This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Elmlid Malin demonstrates the mass influence a simple heartfelt gesture (home baked bread) can make, starting from the people you normally interact with to the people you meet for the first time. It's for sure a cultural and interpersonal incebreaker. What is safe to say is that when you do a gesture, as simple as it may be, for simply the joy of doing it and not expect anything in return, the response you get is immense and altogether surprising.

Intro Video:
pulpmedia.at

Intro Music:
Moritz Scharf – Nausea | Z
© 2012 all rights reserved

moritzscharf.bandcamp.com
Modular synthesizer collection provided by Endorphin.es

Swedish-born, Berlin-based, Malin Elmlid is the founder of trading network The Bread Exchange. With a business degree in network management and marketing from Lund University, Sweden and a background in global sales management for the fashion industry, Malin has traveled the world looking for authentic stories published by various travel and lifestyle publications.
During her travels she went on the hunt for high-quality goods and discovered that the one item that seemed to lack quality was the most basic food of all; Bread. Born out of a dissatisfaction with the white bread available, Malin started researching and baking white yeast-free sourdough bread. With the hours and hours that go into each handmade, naturally leavened loaf, the value of the bread couldn’t be quantified by money. So, she started to bartered her bread, in exchange for anything shared with good intention – just not money.
The Bread Exchange project is not about money but instead focusses on other forms of value: trust, quality, intent and consciousness. Bread is a global good – not bound by any borders and always something to be shared.
Malin has now traded over 1,400 sourdoughs worldwide. Places of trade range from her hometown Berlin to the USA and Belgium, Morocco and even Afghanistan. Her book ‘The Bread Exchange’ will be released October 2014.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)