AROUND THE WORLD WITH EGGY BREAD

Would you eat eggy bread for breakfast?

Names are us. There are hundreds of millions different names in the world. They tell us who we are, how we’re related to the past, and if we reflect our times. Think Finnian vs Finn, Benedict vs. Benji, or Kordula vs. Katlin.

What’s that have to do with eggy bread? Would you eat it if it was called torrejas, the romantic pain á la romaine, or French Toast?

 It’s basically all the same, stretching back to the ancient Roman aliter dulcia.

The recipe is simple and hasn’t changed much through the millennia. Soak stale bread in milk or cream, beaten eggs, and fry in butter or oil. If you like sweet, top it with anything from honey, syrup, and peanut butter to chocolate chips and fresh fruit. If you prefer savory, add cheese, mushrooms, brown gravy, or ketchup. You can even make it vegan. Either way, fry the toast until it’s crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.

Eggy bread is yummy by any name.

Helen Nichols wrote about French Toast in Mashed, “Many of us know it as a childhood breakfast . . . now, the dish has taken on a resurgence as a bougie brunch food . . . endlessly customizable.”

The story is very tasty.

Head back to ancient Rome. Bread (without preservatives) went stale quickly. It was important not to waste food, particularly in times of crop failures, food shortages, and famine. Simple recipes “recycled” what was available.

Perhaps the most notable was aliter dulcia, a collection of sweet recipes. Many food historians believe that this was the origin of French Toast. Others disagree. Either way, Romans supposedly ate it sweet with honey drizzled on top.

A recipe was included in the Latin Apicus de re Coquinaria, a collection of 10 books on Roman cuisine, going back to the Fifth Century BCE. Food historians believe that the dish was also found in ancient Egypt.

Compliments of Wikimedia Commons

 As time marched on, so did eggy bread. There were many regional and cultural versions, along with different names. All followed the same basic recipe.

There were several versions during the Middle Ages. Thirteenth century Germans made arme ritter – poor knight’s bread. The French prepared pain à la romaine – Roman Toast. Eventually the French called it pain perdu or lost bread, perhaps because the bread was “lost” instead of thrown out.

No one called it French Toast.

According to Nichols, “it is thought that the term “French Toast” started in the seventeenth century in England and was then carried to the United States by early colonizers.”

A colorful, but unlikely legend gives credit to Innkeeper/chef, Joseph French. In 1724 he made his own version of eggy bread and named it after himself. It should have been French’s Toast. Whether his grammar was off – or it was just easier to ignore – the name stuck.

Javier Porter said it best in TheCookingFacts. “French toast may have a controversial origin, but one thing is certain – it has become a culinary favorite all over the world.”

It’s simple, adaptable, and delicious. Check out some amazing versions. In Hong Kong it’s called sāidōsí and it combines several slices of bread with peanut butter, fruit jam, sweet taro, satay, or other stuffings. Indian Bombay Toast is a street food. New Orleans-style adds alcohol to the batter. Portugal serves a traditional Christmas dish called rabanadas.

In Israel, Shula tells the story about “Grandma making “breizel” which is Yiddish for bread crumbs. As a Holocaust survivor she could never bring herself to throw out bread. Grandma sliced the leftovers always “repurposing” the bread.”

Ashkenazi Jews, like Grandma, were known for their luscious challah French Toast, often made the day after celebrating the Sabbath.

Today, you can tweak the recipe: different breads, milk (cream or vegan), oil or butter, and of course, toppings. It all works – which is the beauty of a simple, adaptable recipe that has survived for thousands of years.

There’s a National French Toast Day every year. If you want to spend a lot of dough, according to Lauren Wood in Daily Meal, the most expensive French Toast hails from Dubai, covered in 24 carat edible gold and called The Golden Royal Brioche French Toast. It sells for $63.

I wonder if the gold sticks in your teeth.

Make it at home, buy it frozen, in sticks, or chow down at your favorite restaurant. French Toast (its history and names) is an experience not to be forgotten.

Don’t eat eggy bread – go for tengrrl’s banana foster brioche French Toast instead. You won’t forget that either!