#0050—You're Toasting Wrongly

Have you ever wondered why we ‘toast’ someone with a drink?

Even when we don’t like them very much?

(But everyone else is going along with it and you don’t want to be seen not joining in, particularly if it’s the boss being toasted.)

(Christ, you hate them.)

(There it’s over.)

(Actually, why is it called a ‘toast’?)

Curious? Good, let’s begin.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Drinking toast.
The culinary centrepiece of my usual breakfast is
toast.
With butter and marmalade on it.
Now that's because I'm doing it all wrong.
In fact, my inappropriate use of toast will,
I'm sure, one day see me done in
by toast traditionalists.
After all, as everybody knows, toast isn't for

(00:27):
eating, it's for drinking.
You're probably as surprised as I was when
I found out.
Yet, when you think about it, it's obvious.
The reason we raise a glass to toast
someone is actually utterly to do with toasted
bread.
Back in the 1400s all the way through
to the 1600s, people would put spiced toast
in their drinks.

(00:47):
They did this, I kid you not, to
make the drinks taste better.
You see, the toast would soak up bad
odours or acidic elements like you might find
in wine.
So, when they raised the glass, it genuinely
did have a piece of toast in it.
The toast was sometimes eaten afterwards or thrown
away, and occasionally given to the dogs.
But that was before animal cruelty was frowned

(01:08):
upon.
Wine wasn't the only drink associated with toast.
I found a 15th century recipe called oil
sops, mmm tasty, which is fried onions boiled
in stale ale and served, you guessed it,
on toast.
Of course, since then, English cooking has progressed
dramatically to include culinary highlights such as beans

(01:31):
on toast, scrambled eggs on toast, and, in
Derby, mashed potatoes on toast.
Incidentally, Derby was the home of Harry Mosley
Stevens, the man who invented baseball scorecards and…
the hot dog.
Which is nothing to do with toast, but
is an interesting story anyway because...