Toast to toast – the world’s best snack

We all love toast, heavily slathered with butter (or a vegan alternative), it’s comforting and to many brings back memories of childhood, possibly you remember egg and soldiers in your highchair? Back when Streetband's "Toast" was in the charts (for those old enough to remember the track, or the charts) gluten free alternatives were probably pretty hard to find, very different today. No range would be complete now without gluten free or vegan products. Allegedly at the time, there were huge bakery strikes on and people had to queue round the block when bread arrived.

Toast and the Tourist — Toast Around the Globe

Toasted sandwiches became all the rage as well, with the advent of the ‘Breville sandwich’ press back in 1974. They still make them today, although many are now panini presses to move with the times. Many countries have a speciality ‘toastie’ in their repertoire. Americans love a Cheese Toast and keep it quite straight-forward and simple. However, they have managed to get the ever popular ‘Mac 'n' Cheese’ into a toastie in various combinations. It even made it into the Costa Christmas range with a cheese and bacon version. We did one years ago under the vegetarian Cranks brand, without the bacon of course. No doubt we will see a vegan version on the shelves pretty soon. India have a Chilli Cheese Toastie, made popular by the Dishoom chain of restaurants. Japan has its own Katsu Sando that a few years ago became the must-have sandwich in London and famously one of the most expensive and most Instagrammable to boot. It even found its way onto The Great British Menu in 2019. Made traditionally with Shokupan Japanese Milk Bread, panko-crusted fried pork, Japanese Mayo, mustard, seasoning, Tonkatsu sauce and shredded cabbage. Not to be outdone, Korea also has their own favourite toasties, based around their infamous Kimchi. A few years ago, Kimchi hit the foodie radar with a restaurant named ‘Kimchee’ even popping up in London. One of their favourite toasties is Kimchi and Cheese, the other being BBQ Pork and Kimchi.

Croque Criteria — Monsieur or Madame?

One of the most popular forms of toastie in the UK and Ireland, is the 'Croque' topped products, found as either square or bloomer bread with a savoury filling and a béchamel and cheese-topped top, pre-grilled and melted. All the coffee chains have them as do supermarket cafés, and independent coffee shops. The space they claim on shelves keeps growing. Traditionally the ‘Croque’ comes from France, with two main varieties: Monsieur is ham and cheese, while Madame is the same but with a fried egg on top. The title Croque Monsieur comes from “croquer”, to bite and “monsieur” meaning mister. It's literally a gentleman's sandwich. It allegedly first appeared in a work by Proust, ‘In search of Lost Time’, in 1918 but had been on Paris menus as early as 1910. The bread is usually sweeter than normal bread, like brioche. Always made with white bread, the dish is not particularly healthy or low in fat! You've been warned! The cheese is usually Gruyère or Emmental, sometimes Comte, and is placed on top as well as inside the sandwich. Then, when baked or fried, the cheese melts and the bread becomes a little crusty. Sometimes, restaurants add a béchamel sauce to give added flavour, or add an egg on top for a Croque Madame. That name relates to a woman’s hat and became common in the 1960s. A “Croque Mademoiselle” is a much rarer vegetarian version: no ham, with cucumber and chives.

Toast Tradition — The French Rarebit

On our travels we also found the French love what they call a ‘Le Welsh’, which is their take on what we know as Welsh Rarebit. We came across numerous of the French takes on this dish too: the Welsh Simple with cheese, the Welsh Complete with cheese, ham and egg, the Welsh Nordique with smoked salmon and cheese and the Welsh Royal with potatoes, cheese, bacon lardons, onions, and egg. We also found one with cheese and truffle ham. Delish! The Croque of

Monte Cristo — A Tasty Tribute

And then there is the Monte Cristo. “Monte Cristo” is a tribute to the French novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. As such, the sandwich's name suggests its French origins. Food historians generally think that the Monte Cristo sandwich is a variation of a French Croque Monsieur. Basically, the Monte Cristo sandwich is a Croque Monsieur dipped in an egg batter and fried. Of course, in America they are deep-fried, and there was uproar when Disneyland took it off their menu. Luckily balance has been restored and the calorie rich fried sandwich is back on the menu at Café Orléans, which adds turkey and serves it with pickles and fries. Maybe they should deep fry the pickles as well.