Alotta Monkey Business

Romans Liked French Toast

Written for "Invalid Item" , prompt: National French Toast Day

But is it a French? It doesn't even require French bread, and it's not French fried (although that may be good).

When I saw it was National French Toast Day, I thought this would be an interesting idea to look into, especially since I like French Toast. My favorite so far is dipping Finnish Cardamom bread into beaten eggs and serving with butter. But would that still be French Toast, or would it now be Finnish Toast?

In Roman times it was Pan Dulcis, and is also known as German Toast, eggy toast, gypsy toast, and pain perdu (lost bread in French). It was sometimes considered a desert dish, or a way of using up stale bread and goes back as far as the 5th century AD.

So in answer to my earlier question, no. French toast is not French. So how did it become known as French toast? Poor grammar! Yes, in 1724 Joseph French (according to legend) invented a dish that was already invented, but apparently not well known at that time. He wanted to name the dish after himself, Joseph French, but forgot the apostrophe and the s, so it was simply French Toast.

How true this is I do not know, but it makes sense, and I can see even today where people think they have something new and publish it in a cookbook or other media under a name different than the foods original name. Nonetheless, it matters not. What matters is, it's National Dip Your Bread In Egg and Fry it Day...

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