How many times have you been in a situation when you get up in the morning and find your fridge almost empty, with only a couple of ingredients? Almost everybody hates this situation. Then, you need to put your clothes on, go to the store, buy something, get back, and then make breakfast. This situation is hard, especially for those who declare themselves as "not the morning person". Well, if you have some bread and a couple of eggs, we have a solution for you. Make the French toast! You need only a couple of ingredients and a little bit of your time, and voila! - You have a tasty breakfast. Even the old and dry bread will do the trick. All you have to do is soak the bread in eggs, add a spice or two, and fry it. This is a perfect meal to start your day. You will be full of energy, and actually have more motivation for your other obligations.

The history of french toast

The first french toast recipe appeared in the Apicius. Apicius was a collection of Latin recipes in the 5th century. However, french toast was described as Aliter Dulcia which means "another sweet dish". And it was and still is. According to the first recipe, in order to make toast, you had to slice white bread into large pieces and soak them in the mix of milk and eggs. After that, you had to fry the pieces of bread in oil and dress it with honey.

In the 14th century, in Germany, Nordic countries, and England the dish was called "poor knights". The German version of the french toast is enhanced with cinnamon and plum jam. An interesting recipe was made in Scottland where french toast is actually served as a sandwich. They like to put sausage between two slices of french toast. Their neighbors, the English, like to add ketchup to the french toast.

Moving on to the American territory, where the term "French Toast" appeared the first time in the "Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink" in 1871. And 16 years later, the recipe for french toast appeared in "The White House Cookbook". The writer of the book used the term "soaking and cooking bread" instead of "french toast". Since it was determined that french toast has many health benefits, and that is very popular among the people in the United States, November 28th is marked as National French Toast Day.

National French Toast Day

The National French Toast Day is a favorite day for the fans of this dish. This event gathers people all across the United States, where they have the opportunity to show their favorite french toast recipes. Whether you are a professional chef or amateur, you can demonstrate your knowledge. The main goal of this event is to make people try the newest french toast recipes at their favorite restaurants and sometimes even cook their own recipes themselves. Since french toast can be made from many different ingredients, there are a lot of creative ideas presented each year.

Different variations of french toast

Throughout history, french toast was one of the favorite family morning meal. It had many different names like "eggy bread", "Gypsy toast", "poor knights", "German toast", just to name a few. It is a dish that is not only easy to make, but it can be perfectly combined with honey, fruits, and vegetables. Therefore, you can find many variations of this dish. If you want your french toast to be sweet, you can add milk, sugar, and/or vanilla into eggs before frying and top the dish with some syrup after frying. On the other hand, if you want salty toast, just add salt or pepper into it and serve it with some sauce such as ketchup or mayonnaise.

Restaurants across the United States serve french toast with butter, honey, syrup, and/or powdered sugar. The options are endless and people use a lot of creativity when they are preparing this dish. In India, people prefer savory french toast made from eggs, salt, milk, chilly, and onions. Often, this version of the dish is served with ketchup. But of course, there is also a sweet version of the dish (Bombay toast). If you take two slices of bread, put mozzarella in between, soak it in eggs, and then fry it, you will get the Italian version of the dish. Italians, of course, like to put cheese and tomato sauce on the dish, as well. You can make Hong Kong's french toast if you combine the slices of bread with peanut butter and/or jam. After that, you need to soak the toast in the eggs and then fry it. In New Zealand, french toast is very similar to the original recipe. Sometimes, they serve the toast with maple syrup and bananas.

Health benefits of french toast

French toast is high in protein, fiber, carbs, sodium, selenium, and many other vitamins and minerals. Carbs provide enough energy to your body and they boost your strength. It is also good for your stomach. The other thing that is good for your digestive system is fiber. According to the FDA, one french toast provides 1.4 g of fiber which is 6 percent of your daily needs. Fiber will also reduce your food cravings and improve your metabolism.

If you are going to the gym often, or engage in other physical activities, french toast is a perfect breakfast choice. One slice of bread contains 3.8 g of protein. If you want to build more muscle you can enhance your french toast with some lean meat. You will increase the protein in the dish, but also secure enough energy for exercising. We should mention that two slices of french toast can contain between 300 and 500 calories, so you should be careful with this dish. As we said, if you do hard exercises during the week, this is a perfect dish. On the other hand, you can gain weight instead of building muscle if you don't eat it in moderation.

Vegan Eggless French Toast

When we think of the french toast, we automatically think of eggs and bread. It is hard to even imagine the french toast without the eggs. But, believe it or not, it is possible to make the eggless french toast. There is no reason why vegans should not enjoy this delicious dish. In order to make the vegan eggless french toast, instead of using milk and eggs, you could use the nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast will substitute the mixture of eggs and milk with the savory alternative to this traditional dish. Also, you can use a variety of other ingredients like brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, dairy-free milk, vegan butter, coconut oil, agave, etc.