Talk:French toast/Archive 1

France
So the first word that comes to an American mind to replace the word "French" is the word "Freedom". How flattering! I thought that most americans did not even know the Statue of Liberty was French too. Well the word "French" comes from "Franc" or "Frank" which meant "Free" in old German language (While "Allemand" would mean "all the men" ?). It was the name of a federation of tribes in the Rhine valley. So we are back to our roots. France, the land of the free, and that comes from an American's mouth, a Republican I believe. what a fantastic compliment ! "French toast" used to be called "Pain perdu" ,as mothers made it with stale bread which otherwise would be lost. Never had it for 60 years now. I said "pain perdu" (wasted bread) not "Peine perdue"(wasted effort). Now French dressing is the most horrible thing I ever had with a salad. I stick to home made vinaigrette. And French mustard should be eliminated too, not just renamed. Anything else "French", oh, well those things, but you already call them Condoms, after the name of a little French town (please stop stealing their road signs, by the way) Now I have doubts about "French windows" (we do not call them that, of course, just "portes-fenêtres"). If they take them out of the White House, does it mean that Presidents will have in the future to go (and jump) through American windows ? And as for taking a french leave, that is, of course, "filer à l'Anglaise" Which I do now. J P Corbasson, Caen, Normandie yes i like it  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.143.11.252 (talk) 01:09, 16 March 2009 (UTC) We're six months on from this stupid little dispute about the name of breakfast foods. Does any of it belong in an encyclopedia? David Clayworth.

Alright, since the elephant in the room seems not to have been addressed, (which is bizarre) I'll ask: What is it called in France, and if it isn't eaten at all in France (which seems quite unlikely since plenty of other Western European nations are listed), why is that the case? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.241.4.205 (talk) 14:09, 17 August 2010 (UTC) french toast has nothing to do with france despite its name.french toast as we know it today is an American food especially with syrup.origins of french toast go back to ancient Greece. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.250.236.192 (talk) 19:53, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Hungary/Bundáskenyér
Someone translated "Bundáskenyér" as "coated bread". "Bundás" means fluffy and "kenyér" means bread in Hungarian. Accordingly, in Hungarian it is known as fluffy bread, so I am changing it in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bundas (talk • contribs) 02:10, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

jam sandwich
should that be made from a jam sandwich, or made into a jam sandwich?

P.S. people who confuse etymology with meaning (french and free) remind me of many hours I used to spend arguing with idiot fundamentalists

Which entree?
"popular as a breakfast entree": Is french toast popular as a breakfast starter dish or as a breakfast main course in the US? Entree means starter in English English and main course in US English, so the wording is ambiguous. Main course matches my experience so I've replaced entree with that. Jamesday 13:21, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)


 * I'm not even sure if "breakfast starter dish" exists in US cuisine. I'm under the impression people generally just have a single dish or bowl of stuff for breakfast, plus beverage.  The idea of "courses" doesn't really apply to breakfasts here.

Eaten with ketchup/catsup?
Anyone eat french toast with ketchup/catsup? Anyone ever even heard of anyone eating french toast with it? (Maybe this is just one of those weird things grandma used to do.)   –radiojon 02:33, 2004 Oct 3 (UTC)


 * I have never seen anyone eat with ketchup. But now that I think about it, there is no reason french toast can't be eaten with it.  People eat bread or egg with ketchup and it's odd to think one cannot eat a mix with ketchup.  The recipe of French toast I'm familiar with, added sugar and cinammon to the eggs and milk mix and cinammon doesn't go really well with ketchup.  Revth 16:32, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

My husband does it. He's from Scotland, and he thinks it's bizarre that I put sugar and syrup on mine.
 * I've never seen or heard about ketchup on French toast. This is the first I've read about it.  Seems like an unlikely combination to me.  H Padleckas 06:01, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I only ever eat 'french toast' (or 'eggy bread' as we've called in my family for, oh, 25+ years) *with* ketchup. Until I looked at this article I never even knew that people ate it with syrups and stuff. Of course, my recipe is just to beat two eggs with a splash of milk, dip the bread in and fry it. Have never used sugar or cinnamon to make it. I'm British (English) by the way, perhaps that has something to do with it? Demos99 16:00, 23 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Probably - Scottish here, and the recipe cooked by my family (it's my dad's signature - and only - dish) is the savoury version. However, since I have a sweet tooth, I tend to use eggs and milk, then season half the slices with salt/pepper/ketchup and the other half with sugar. Entree and dessert on one plate! However, the mention of orange juice being used instead of milk sound truly bizarre - I'll have to try it some time. Cammy 19:42, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm surprised that people put syrup or milk or ice cream *blegh* into the recipe. I'm Irish and I've always had it with 2 slices of bread dipped in beaten egg, then fried and eaten with some worchestershire sauce to drizzle over it and ketchup to dip. Mmmm... hungry now. --ISeeDeadPixels 17:43, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

I've eaten it with KETCHUP for the twenty or so years of my life. I recall going out to breakfeast with friends and being SHOCKED that everyone poured SYRUP, of all things, onto their French Toast. I was utterly disgusted. My parents had raised me on French Toast with syrup (with them being firm believers themselves)... Anyways--> I added on ketchup to the list (I mean there can't be more nutters who eat French Toast with peanut butter than ketchup, now can there?) (June 05, 2006)

Nowhere in New Zealand is French toast ever served with tomato sauce/ketchup. It has always been maple syrup. --JNZ (talk) 09:53, 6 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Not with tomato ketchup, but with fried tomatoes and bacon. A little salt and pepper mixed in with the beaten egg, dip thick white bread, lightly fry until the outside is mottled yellow and brown but the inside is still moist, set aside and fry the bacon and tomatoes, then build up a stack of the slices, with an arrangement of bacon and squished tomato spread between each pair of slices.
 * Once you're about four or five slices high, carve off chunks with a knife and fork and eat. Yummm. ErkDemon (talk) 01:05, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Eggy bread with ketchup? Is the Pope a Catholic?  Come on, we Brits will put ketchup on anything, and especially anything that's found its way onto our greasy fry-up or a cooked breakfast.  After all, a dollop of red on yer brekky counts as one of your 5-a-day portions of fruit or veg, innit.  Traveller palm (talk) 17:04, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
 * The comments of this section are the best. Eggy bread. What a name! Format (talk) 08:20, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The list of toppings in the article is truly bizarre, but while I can appreciate strange variations of a dish, why does it say the ketchup should be sugar-free? (Can you even get sugar-free ketchup?) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 00:10, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

My father (Canadian) ate it with ketchup, so I did. I didn't know it was unusual until I ordered French toast in a restaurant in my twenties, and my three companions stared at me with horror when I put ketchup on the French toast. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.180.213.197 (talk) 02:35, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

I eat it Eggy bread with Tomato Sauce (ketchup) and I'm English. I eat it with a fry up or with bacon. I would eat fried egg on toast with tomato sauce, and eggy bread is essentially the same. My friend had a sweet one in a Canadian café though Sweetie candykim (talk) 13:17, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Apparently some people do, I don't personally know anyone who does. I doubt it's common enough to warrant a place in the article summary over other toppings. 86.101.168.247 (talk) 08:59, 23 February 2013 (UTC)


 * It's the most common way to eat it in the UK & Ireland, the world is not the USA, let's not go over this all again, eh? 阝工巳几千凹父工氐 (talk) 10:37, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

stuffed
what about stuffed french toast? yum! i think it has cream cheese and fruit in it, but i could be wrong. only had it once. — Omegatron 02:40, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Canadian French Toast
At a popular cafe here in Western Australia, a dish called Canadian French Toast is served. This appears to be French toast with maple syrup, served with bacon on the side. It's delicious! But does it actually come from Canada; any information on this would be helpful.


 * Well... Maple syrup is fairly Canadian.  And in Canada, if you get French Toast (or pancakes, or any of a number of other semi-sweet cooked breakfast foods) you will usually be given a container of Maple Syrup (or some poor synthetic substitute) as an optional condiment.  But if you wanted to eat it au naturel, or perhaps just with icing sugar (often sprinkled on as part of preparation actually) you could.  So, IMHO, it's analogous perhaps to billing french fries soaked in malt vinegar as "British French Fries" or "British Chips".  And similarly, bacon on the side would likely be an "option" in a Canadian restaurant--likely replaceable with link sausages, peameal bacon, or possibly country or Polish sausage.--SportWagon 19:51, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Hong Kong style french toast.
About Hong Kong style french toast: The jam used is coconut jam called Kaya. And I don't think anyone uses honey. It's a dark colored syrup, most likely low grade maple syrup. Honey costs a lot. Would you let customers pour gobs and gobs of honey only to waste it? Most likely we pour more than we need. SO not honey.


 * I believe they are golden syrup which is a different animal from maple syrup. Practically no one in Hong Kong among the local Chinese circles has much experience with the maple syrup.  In most cases, the filling (that is very uniquely Hong Kong, as neither American nor NZ/Australian style French toast is made with frying stacked toast bread and certainly not with fillings) is normally peanut butter as jam or kaya is too sweet when you add in the golden syrup on the table. --JNZ (talk) 09:30, 6 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Maple syrup is a North American thing. In other parts of the world, people get other syrups from other sorts of trees. That doesn't make those syrups equivalent to "inferior grade" maple syrup, it means that they're simply different local products. If you're in the Far East, and you ask for maple syrup instead of a local ingredient, you're missing out. That's like visiting Paris and asking for Monterey Jack in your cheese baguette. ErkDemon (talk) 01:26, 7 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It is not necessarily so. Maple syrup imported from Canada, or at least imitation maple syrups, is the norm used here in New Zealand as well, even though maple trees don't grow around here. --JNZ (talk) 05:06, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Eggy Bread?
I've called it Eggy Bread my entire life, and so do most of my friends (England), is this just a local thing and we're all very childish or is it purely an English name? - Ferret 20:08, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

It is known as Eggy bread to me too (first time i ever saw the receipe to include milk as optional!) but when I went abroad they were calling it Fried Bread, even though it is cooked in a pan.
 * I'm in america, and i've never heard it called Eggy bread. dposse 16:25, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Personally I think that anyone who calls it "Eggy Bread" was dropped on their head as a baby. I live in well that doesnt matter, and we call it french toast.and thats my word. P.S. i rule. Safer Sephiroth s 22:50, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm in the UK and have always known this food as Eggy Bread,Gypsy toast or French FRIED bread. French toast is an entirely different thing !!! French toast is a slowly baked slice of bread that has a very crisp texture.It's delicious with butter and marmalade on it according to my mate Mc-fly. I have a box or 2 of French Toast in my kitchen that I bought from Asda...And it's clearly a different type of food.Here is a picture :- http://www.uupload.net/files/250906-biscotte.jpg  Shirley Crabtree 25th September 2006

Another picture of French toast in a box :- http://www.bakers-delight.co.uk/trimlyne/frenchtoast.html Shirley Crabtree 25th September 2006
 * Agreed. “French toast” is bread dried out from baking. Time to add it to the article I think.--Rfsmit 03:18, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

I live in Western Australia and my mother, who was born here in 1946, calls it "eggy bread" too. She has a fairly strong English/Scottish heritage so I think it is indeed likely that calling french toast eggy bread is a UK thing.

Well I'm British, and I have always called it french toast, so its not all of the UK who call it eggy bread.

Could it be a Northern thing?

I'm from Scotland. It was always called "Egg Dip" in our house, though others I know seem to call it "Eggy Bread".

Real Scots would never call it 'eggy bread'. It's French toast, god dammit! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.92.90 (talk) 11:19, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I've gone to Guide camps all over SW England. It's a last day favourite where you use up everything left over and has always been called Eggy Bread wherever I've been. I've always regarded French Toast as sweet (as you add milk to the eggs and icing sugar before/during frying) whereas Eggy Bread is just in an egg mixture with salt+pepper and usually eaten with ketchup and bacon/sausages. Eggy Break is most definitely a camp thing to Guides (in SW England at least). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.105.176.27 (talk) 23:13, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm Scottish and to me it's always been French toast--62.249.233.80 (talk) 12:57, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Maybe that's where the Yanks get it then - Scotland. I've only ever known it as Eggy Bread; though it's not like this, I'm pretty sure Eggy bread is just Eggs + Bread. No cinnamon or stuff (just ketchup... mmmmm!) --Kurtle (talk) 16:11, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

It's Eggy Bread to me (I'm English) Sweetie candykim (talk) 13:19, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

stuffed french toast.
I put some infomation on it, but it needs to be expanded. Please add any infomation to help it out. dposse 04:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I am Canadian and have eaten French Toast with both catsup and/or corn syrup all my life. I can start with a piece served with catsup and end the meal with a slice with syrup (like dessert). Mmmmm good! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.209.212.174 (talk) 07:46, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Regional names
The article mentions that 'fairy bread' is a name used in Australia. This is not the case in Melbourne at least, where fairy bread is the name given to buttered bread with 'hundreds and thousands' (a form of confection often used in decorating cakes) stuck to the butter. It is most commonly served at young children's parties. Can any other Australians help identify the regionality of this name? In fact, there's already an article for the definition I'm familiar with Fairy bread --Drewnoakes 11:03, 28 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I can confirm that fairy bread in Perth refers to a snack for children that is constituted by hundreds and thousands sprinkled on buttered bread, and that french toast, when used here, refers to bread dipped into an egg mixture and fried.


 * Agreed, I've lived all over the country, fairy bread is fairy bread. And it ain't french toast. As a new Queenslander none of my Cane Toad born-and-bred mates would whip up some french toast if you asked for fairy bread either. Baleeted. --Sophistifunk 22:33, 9 November 2006 (UTC)


 * > Wrong enter: England: suppe dorate (Italian for "gilded sippets")

Comment: I'm Italian, suppe dorate is not a italian language, suppe can be french but not italian, gilded sippets in italian can be translated as "crostini dorati" (plural). In Italian there is not a single word for describe it, and French toast is not a common term. We can use for Italian entry this: "Pane dorato e fritto". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 89.97.35.74 (talk) 15:20, 12 January 2007 (UTC).


 * Suppe and dorate appear in a letter written by Venetian historian Marino Sanuto in 1505. The entry came under the heading "History and geographical spread" and "Medieval Europe" and as such was not referring to modern versions of the name or the language. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.90.184.144 (talk) 13:39, 24 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Here's the link to the letter: http://sscm-jscm.press.uiuc.edu/v8/no1/kurtzman/doc39.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.90.184.144 (talk) 13:42, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

In the German region of Franconia (German: Franken) the French toast, made from bread rolls, is called Carthusian dumplings (Karthäuserklösse)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.190.32.164 (talk) 18:51, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Australian sweet/savoury
Could any other Australians confirm or deny the statement that we apparently consider French Toast a primarily savoury dish? Although I don't often see it on menus here in Melbourne, whenever I have seen it, it's always been as a sweet dish with some combination of jam, honey, maple syrup, golden syrup, and ice cream as a topping. I was brought up with it at home by my father, who grew up in the US, so it's always been a sweet dish to me, and I've never seen or heard anything to contradict that aside from this page. -- Nezuji 09:40, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * After a week, I decided to trace back through the page history, and I found that the line in question was added by an anonymous user and never subsequently altered, so I've 86ed it until someone else wants to confirm it. -- Nezuji 05:00, 28 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm from Western Australia (Perth and rural parts), and I've only ever had it with tomato sauce - same for most people I've known. However, I used to live with a guy from Darwin whose eyes bugged out of my head when he saw me eat it like that... he always used honey. I tried it like that once, but didn't really like it... it's always been a savoury dish for me. So maybe it's a regional thing, or personal taste?


 * By the way, Chinese leftovers taste surprisingly good on French toast... I tried this the other night when I has nothing in the house but stale bread, eggs, a bit of milk and half a container of stir fried Chinese green vegies. Savoury, and delicious. :P


 * Bird of paradox 09:42, 2 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, a slice of French Toast wrapped around some stir-fried veggies does sound pretty good right now :) On the sweet/savoury issue, I'm inclined to agree with you that it's at least a regional preference, if not an entirely personal one.  I don't think there's really anything that needs to be said in the article, but if anyone wants to mention it, it'd probably be best to restrict any statements to the region that they're personally familiar with. -- Nezuji 09:56, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
Apparently someone vandalized this line:

Netherlands: wentelteefjes (etymology unclear, wentelen = "to turn over", teefje = "bitch")

You can see what was vandalized, but I can't figure out what the original was and can't find a real translation.

If anyone knows what the word "teefje" actually translates to from Dutch (I think it's Dutch) then go ahead and fix it. For the mean time I'm replacing "bitch" with "?".

Ryan858 23:28, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Incidentally, that may not be vandalism. From this diff, it appears that the original translation defined "teefje" as "bitch".  Strange, yes, but I don't know how else that could come about, since the edit looks good faith.  You may try contacting User:Mahrot, but as he/she hasn't been active since July it's unlikely that you will get a response.  A second opinion on the translation would be good, but there you have it. XD — K  e  akealani  23:52, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
 * "teefje" means "bitch" as in female dog. Nothing offensive about it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.226.225.31 (talk) 21:31, 25 February 2007 (UTC).
 * Could be an old word for a type of pastry--Rfsmit 03:22, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Google search it.... there's plenty of legit results. Keep it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.157.22.149 (talk) 10:10, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

As a person who is a knowledge seeker and a seeker of THE TRUTH, and therefore believes that Wikipedia is the foremost authority on knowledge in the entire Universe, I would have to take an INTELLIGENT guess that the "wenteltefjes" reference wasn't an example of vandalism, at all. The fact is that French toast originated in the Netherlands; in 1658, Tony Soprano of Amsterdam, who was the Dutch Master of a cocker spaniel, (the dog's name was "Petie", which was the inspiration for Hal Roach to name the dog in the Our Gang films, which were an example of film noir, to name the dog the same name) fed the dog a piece of bread that he accidentally dropped eggs on while frying. Petie the dog was born in France, and Soprano yelled at the dog, "Roll OVER, ya French BITCH, and eat this crap!" The dog liked it so much that Soprano went around to Amsterdam restaurants, offering them his new delicisy that was made with his "secret recipe". The owners of the restaurants in Amsterdam loved it so much that they elected Soprano as mayor of Amsterdam. Thus, the name French Toast (originally known as Wentelteefjes, which means "Roll OVER, BITCH!" in Dutch). It's TRUE. I just called up the International House of Pancakes in downtown Newark, New Jersey, and they confirmed it. Runt (talk) 07:41, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Gypsy Toast
My great-grandmother used to call french toast "gypsy toast". Couldn't find any refence to it in the article. Is this a common name for it? --ISeeDeadPixels 17:37, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Common usage in the UK
I'm fairly sure that French toast has, at least sometimes, a different meaning, possibly toast that is buttered before being toasted, perhaps as a result of the WWII rationing where it would have been considered a waste of eggs. Rich Farmbrough, 06:57 9 April 2007 (GMT).
 * See above -- it's also bread slices dried out by baking.--Rfsmit 03:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

History of English appelation
"The name "French toast" is attested to be from English soldiers serving on campaign in France during the Hundred Years' War who, upon being provided rations consisting solely of stale bread and tea, combined the ingredients to make it more palatable."

This sounds highly unlikely, if only because tea was introduced to the UK in 1660, 200 years after the 100 years war. I'll remove it until a source is found.80.195.231.234 12:52, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Rogov's "Joseph French" story
There's a sentence in the article that appears to be based on a web page by Daniel Rogov, possibly written as fiction as a joke anecdote. It has also been called "American toast" in the U.S., where there is a story that it was invented in 1724 by a man named Joseph French in a roadside tavern near Albany, New York. After performing a search, I found no other references to support the story. Instead, I found many references that seem to refer to Rogov as their source. I'm tempted to remove the sentence, since including fiction in an encyclopedia article seems wrong. However, by this point the story has been cited in quite a few places. If the sentence isn't removed, I think that it needs to be qualified so readers know that it is likely to be fiction and not actual fact. Merely adding a reference for this information isn't enough. By doing so, it might give readers the impression that the story is true and supported by cited sources. --Ben James Ben 16:26, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Fried egg in the middle?
Has anyone ever heard of or seen the variation in which a hole is cut in the middle of the bread slice and an egg is cracked into it while it is frying. The result is a fried egg in the middle of a slice of french toast. I had once heard this called "San Francisco French Toast", but my Google search for that name didn't support that usage. I'd like to add it to the variations section, but I'm not sure if it's an actual thing or something made up by a friend of mine... Thanks! -Sarfa (talk) 20:47, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
 * You could be referring to Egg in the basket, in my family called by the imaginative name egg-in-toast. --Xyzzyva (talk) 06:32, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Served as afternoon tea fare or breakfast/brunch?
I believe it is only Hong Kong-style French toast that is available all day round and primarily for afternoon tea. I remember once trying to order French toast for afternoon coffee/tea breaks at a cafe (Robert Harris?), and the barrista politely told me "I'm sorry sir but this is a breakfast dish, and we don't make it after 11 am." and from the gist of his tone, the idea of serving French toast as afternoon tea fare is an alien concept to the mainstream New Zealand or general Western society. Anyone can elaborate more on this? --JNZ (talk) 09:35, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

French toast called "Bombay toast" in India?
I'm from Mumbai, India and I've never heard of anyone refer to French toast as Bombay toast in 28 years. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aalaap (talk • contribs) 06:38, 18 May 2008 (UTC) Perhaps it is not so in Mumbai but I'm from Sri Lanka where it has always been referred to as Bombay Toast! A simple web search reveals multiple recipes for Bombay Toast from sites based in the Indian subcontinent (especially South India) --Dee doubleyew (talk) 07:07, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Etymology
The entry for the german wikipedia states that the recipe was first written down by Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius who lived in the 1st century. In Austria it goes by the name of "Pavese", a medieval type of shield made of wood and shaped like a slice of toast. Carried foremost by archers and not suitable for close combat action, it might have sparked the misconception to be armament of "Poor Knights", the term used in germany and some parts of the UK as well.

How is pain perdu distinct?
The article claims that pain perdu is a similar but distinct dish, then goes on to describe the exact same dish. How is pain perdu different? the "stale bread" ingredient hardly seems distinguishing since it is recommended for french toast also. 68.175.101.2 (talk) 15:45, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I learned the answer: pain perdu is deep-fried, not simply fried. You may not make your pain perdu this way, but if you don't, you are not making a dish distinct from french toast. 68.175.101.2 (talk) 16:42, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

No No No, the pain perdu is the true French recipe and different to the French toast. I don't understand why french toast is called "French" as it's not the true French recipe but certainly made by a foreign people who came in France and made is own variant. Pain perdu means literally "lost bread". It's at the origin a recipe made by poor people. They had old and hard bread but they didn't want to put in a bin as it will be a waste. So they made a simple recipe for using this bread. The old and hard bread, which is sliced on a bias ( very important), is softened by dipping in a mixture of milk,eggs and sugar ( vanilla and cinnamon are not an obligation), and then glazed or turned golden ( I am not sure for the verb)but it's not fried or deep-fried ( which is different when you know cooking). Also bread used is generally baguette ( or that can't be any kind of real white bread, but not industrial bread which has square shape). Also it's bread and not brioche. So what is the important to make a real pain perdu : Glazed but not fried or deep-fried, old and hard real white bread or baguette, sliced on a bias. (And, as you can see with my bad English, I'am French so believe me when I say "French toast" is not French and not even eating by french people, but pain perdu is French and it's the real recipe). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.180.222.253 (talk) 20:31, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

BTW, a small amount of research shows that Eggy Bread is a distinct food, and distinguishing it answers many of the the objections above. Eggy bread is an egg batter used for savory dishes, where an egg + milk batter is used to head in the sweet direction with sugar, syrup, fruit, vanilla, cinnamon, etc. 68.175.101.2 (talk) 16:42, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Norma ??
In the "Etymology" section it said:
 * In Scotland this could be called the Norma food of the Norma people from the contributions of the Greeks.

I took this out, because I get absolutely no idea what the contributor was trying to say here. If it's not plain stupid vandalism it desperately needs clarification. --BjKa (talk) 02:34, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Is French toast French?
The article claims it was created in French, but both sources say it is NOT French and in fact Spanish.

"Invented in Spain during the Middle Ages, and most likely as a result of Arab influences on the country at the time. The Middle Ages, folks. Bet you didn't know IHOP was serving ye olde ancient food alongside its Rooty Tooty Fresh & Fruities. Pain perdu is a popular French variation on French toast, but they can't lay claim to inventing this breakfast favorite." french toast has nothing to do with france despite the name.french toast as we know it today especially with syrup is an American food   with origins going back to ancient greece. NERVUN (talk) 23:44, 12 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Tost goes back to ancient Greece. Agreement with NERVUN.--Left&#38;run (talk) 04:23, 15 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The article does not say that it was created in France. It says that its name in English is "French toast", that's all.  All it says about its history is "The earliest known reference to French toast is in the Apicius".  Like most foods, its history probably goes much further back than any extant sources.  If you have earlier reliable sources (in particular, note that our own interpretations of primary sources are not considered reliable sources in Wikipedia), please contribute them to the article. --Macrakis (talk) 23:16, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Livingston Sanny?
I'm Scottish (and live not too far from Livingston and Edinburgh), and I firmly believe the following in wholly inaccurate - probabl someone's idea of a joke!


 * or served with a generous spread of warm porridge. It is not uncommon, now, to see a breakfast cereal sandwich made with French toast. By far the most popular filling is Sugar Puffs and this has become known as the Livingston Sanny. These are popular with children and there are even some cafés, near the university, in Edinburgh selling this as a morning snack.

I've never heard of french toast being spread with porridge or filled with breakfast cereal. I've never heard of the term 'Livingston Sanny', and I've never come across a café selling french toast filled with sugar puffs or any other cereal. Can anyone name such a café? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.156.172.4 (talk) 07:36, 11 July 2012 (UTC)