To Americans, French toast is a buttery, golden-brown stack of custardy bread, often smothered in syrup and served up for breakfast at diners across the country. But to the French, this foodstuff is known by an entirely different moniker. What Americans call “French toast,” the French call pain perdu — a name that translates to “lost bread.”
The origins of the dish can be traced to the ancient Romans, who had a recipe for aliter dulcia (roughly translated as “another sweet dish”). It involved taking bits of crusty or stale bread, soaking them in milk, frying them in olive oil, and then covering them with honey. This culinary technique was passed down throughout centuries, leading to the creation of pain perdu in France around the 15th century. The dish was a way for the French to revive stale (“lost”) bread instead of throwing it out, as the moisture from the milk, oil, and honey gave it new life.
In 1660, English chef Robert May — who studied in France — adapted this recipe for his cookbook The Accomplisht Cook, calling it “French Toasts.” The recipe came to America sometime during the next two centuries, though exactly when is unclear. According to The Dictionary of American Food and Drink (1983), the earliest recipe to include eggs — as is traditional today — wasn’t printed until 1870.
But “French toast” and pain perdu aren’t the only names for this dish. It’s called pain doré (“golden bread”) in French parts of Canada, and in Spain, it’s known as torriga, which comes from the verb torrar, meaning “to toast.” Sometimes the English also call the dish “poor knights of Windsor” — a colloquialism that refers to a 14th-century order of knights who were purportedly so poor, they could only afford to eat fried bread.
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
