November 28 is National French Toast Day

French toast was not invented in France. In fact, French toast was around long before France even existed as a country.
The earliest reference to doing just this dates all the way back to 4th century Rome, in a cookbook attributed to Apicius, and it is thought to predate this work by a good margin. This style of “French” toast was called Pan Dulcis.
Indeed, the name for French toast in France itself is “pain perdu”, which literally means “lost bread” (it is also called this in Belgium, New Orleans, Acadiana, Newfoundland, and the Congo, among other places).
French toast was created by medieval European cooks who needed to use every bit of food they could find to feed their families. They knew day-old bread could be revived when moistened and heated. They also added eggs for additional moisture and protein.
Medieval recipes for French toast suggest this meal was enjoyed by the wealthy. These recipes used white bread (the very finest, most expensive bread available at the time) with the crusts cut off—something a person of meager means would be unlikely to do.

Today’s Food History

1837 John Wesley Hyatt was born. He developed the process for making celluloid, the first synthetic plastic. He also invented a water purifying system and a sugar cane mill.
1863 Thanksgiving was first celebrated as a regular American Holiday.
1869 W.F. Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio, was issued the first chewing gum patent in 1869.
1930 After a sandstorm in Morocco, there was a rain of mud in Paris and yellow sand fell in Spain.
1942 Coffee rationing began in the U.S.
1948 The first Polaroid Land Camera went on sale in Boston. This was the first successful self-developing camera; it took a photo about 1 minute to develop.
2006 Texas Republican state Rep. Betty Brown filed a bill (HCR 15) in the Texas legislature which would declare Athens, Texas as the “original home of the hamburger.” Residents of New Haven, Connecticut strongly objected.