The preference for white over brown breads is not recent; by the beginning of the 17th century, even the poor had abandoned their native breads for haughty white loaves, but writers commented on the trend already in the 14th century (see Wilson). London separated bread-baking into two guilds: the white bakers and the tourte or brown bakers, who were forbidden to bake white bread or even to possess bolters for sifting the flour (Wilson again).