From crispy morning toast to savory garlic bread, toasted bread is a staple in many cuisines around the world. But have you ever wondered how this simple yet delicious invention came to be? Join us on a journey through time as we explore the fascinating history of toast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toasting bread is believed to have been first practiced by the ancient Romans, who were seeking a way to preserve their bread which had a short shelf life. They found that by toasting the bread, it could be stored for a longer period, thus making it more versatile and reducing food waste.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While we attribute toasting bread to the ancient Romans, the history of bread-making goes back even further in time. The earliest known evidence of bread-making comes from an archaeological site in Jordan<\/a> that dates back 14,000 years. Bread was also an important part of the diet of the ancient Egyptians, who are believed to have started making bread around 6,000 to 8,000 years ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toasting bread became common around 2000 years ago<\/strong>, during the Roman Empire. The word toast comes from the Latin word tostus<\/a>, which means to burn or scorch.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally, a toast was made by placing bread on a hot stone in front of a fire. Later, bread would be placed on sticks or wire frames and cooked over the fire. This practice will stay unchanged for over a millennium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By the mid-19th century, toasting forks that could be used to cook toast over a fire were introduced. George Harold, an American from Brooklyn, New York, created a toasting fork that was patented in 1865<\/a>.<\/strong> It consisted of spring tongs and clamped ends to hold the bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advent of electricity marked a turning point in the history of toasting bread.<\/strong> The first electric toaster<\/a> was patented by George Schneider in 1906, and just three years later, Frank Shailor introduced the D-12, the first commercially successful toaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While few toasters were invented in the early 1900s, they were far from the toasters we use today. These early versions only toasted one side of the bread at a time, requiring people to flip the bread manually to toast the other side.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t until 1921 that a modern, pop-up toaster was invented.<\/strong> American Charles Strite<\/a> invented a toaster that automatically stopped toasting once the desired toasting level was reached. His patent also included an enclosed casing for the bread to be toasted in and the ability to toast multiple slices of bread at one time. This automated the toasting process and changed the way we toast bread forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\nToasting Bread Throughout The History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Toast as We Know it Today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n