It's the best thing since sliced bread.

Question courtesy of Neville Davitt. The rambling around the blog courtesy of my good self.

From Wikipedia:
Sliced bread is a loaf of bread which has been pre-sliced and packaged for convenience.

The phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread" (and variations thereof) is a commonly used hyperbolic means of praising an invention or development. Sliced bread appears to be something of an arbitrary selection as the benchmark against which later inventions should be judged. It has been said that "the phrase is the ultimate depiction of innovative achievement and American know-how",^[7] although it is commonly used in the United Kingdom as well.

The popular use of the phrase derives from the fact that Wonder Bread, the first mass-marketer of sliced bread as a product, launched a 1930s ad campaign touting the innovation.

So....

What was the best thing before sliced bread?