Breakfast is an important part of the day in many countries and the world is full of perfect brunch spots, but there's one dish that's particularly delightful first thing in the morning. Breakfast can be healthy or heavy and while the dish in question isn't exactly on the super nutritious side, it can be a vehicle for some healthy things. It's not an omelet and it's not pancakes, and it's not even waffles (although everyone would agree that stuffed waffles are what dreams are made of). Rather, this dish is something a bit more old-school and much more satisfying: French toast.
Who would have thought that two pieces of bread would create a meal that's perfectly suited for the start of the day? While there are many ways French toast can be made (more about that in another article), it's time to debunk a popular myth that surrounds the nature of this dish: It isn't actually French. Rather, the origin of this breakfast dish comes from an even more unlikely place, with a history that dates back centuries, making it one of the oldest surviving breakfast options to make it to this day and time. If that doesn't make a plate of French toast legendary, then we don't know what does.
French Toast Was Not Created In France... Not Even Close
In fact, in France, the dish we know as French toast isn't called by the same name. There are three origins in total that claim to have the rights to the sweet and filling dish, however, the most convincing (and earliest) recorded date goes back to the Roman era. During the 5th century AD, it's said that a dish eerily similar to what we know as French toast, called Pan Dulcis, was recorded among the earliest recipes experts have of the time. The recipe is so similar to modern-day French toast, even down to the act of soaking the bread in a mixture of milk and eggs prior to frying it in butter or oil, whatever was on hand at the time.
Knowing that the Roman Empire had their version of this dish makes it easier to understand how it popped up for centuries following that. While the recipe has varied slightly, the base of the dish always remains the same: Bread, milk, eggs, and frying of some sort. Another theory came from a man named Joseph French, who was said to have actually created the dish. Known to be lacking in the grammar department, it was surmised that French intended to call the dish something like 'French's Toast,' but left it at 'French toast' due to his lack of knowledge about apostrophes and possessive qualities. While this is a unique and almost cute origin for the dish, it's one that not many qualify as the legitimate explanation for French toast.
Jumping ahead to the Medieval Ages, we find another dish that's of a similar nature and ingredient list. During this time, cooks who worked in castle and manor kitchens had the important job of using up all the ingredients they could before they went bad or rancid. Obviously, there was no such thing as a refrigerator or freezer back then and unless something was salt-cured, it wasn't possible to extend the shelf-life of an ingredient. Bread was no different and since it could go stale rather quickly, a method was needed to bring life back into the loaf without ruining the integrity of the baked good. Heat was an option at the time and cooks knew that bread could easily be revived with a little bit of moisture and by adding heat, the bread would dry out again without being stale. Therefore, it's believed that they began using day-old stale bread by soaking it before cooking it. The addition of eggs was thought to come from a need for protein which was not uncommon with many breakfast dishes during that time. With chickens on the grounds, it wouldn't be too much of a challenge to make a full-on breakfast with the use of stale bread and eggs.
The first written account of a French toast recipe, however, wasn't until 1871 which was some time later. The name 'French toast' appeared in the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, where there was an accompanying recipe to follow (not surprisingly similar to all of the presumed French toast dishes that came along prior). Today, French toast has many names, from 'eggy bread' to 'German toast' and even 'Poor Knights of Windsor.' What likely began as a way to use up spare bread has become a dish that's loved by all.