National Toast Day – February 25, 2027

History of National Toast Day

National Toast Day was first observed in 2014, in the U.K. It was established by Tiptree World Bread Awards, with Brook Food, to celebrate the country’s love of toast and all the varieties of bread that can be used to make toast. Indeed, we’d go so far as to say that a love for toast is probably universal, as far as bread-consuming nations go, which is why its popularity has spread to the U.S. too. Our aim is to spread the word so that National Toast Day can be celebrated all around the world; after all, toast is something many of us may want to celebrate all day, every day!

To trace the history of toast is to go back to the origins of bread itself. The earliest evidence of flour dates back some 30,000 years back, so we know that people were using it to make bread of some sort (probably flatbread). Bread, as we know it today, may have been invented in Ancient Egypt, where the Egyptians discovered that if dough was left out, it would rise, and baking it after led to a lighter, fluffier consistency. By 3000 B.C. the closed oven was invented in Egypt, to bake leavened bread. It was then observed that leavened bread would become hard, if left out, and therefore difficult to eat. The solution? Scorching the bread proved to make it more palatable and increased its shelf life, hence toast was born. The word ‘toast’ originates from the Latin word ‘tostum’, meaning, ‘to burn or scorch’, as toasting bread over fire became popular in the Roman Empire. By and by, with the invention of the electric toaster and automatic bread slicers, toast became a staple in almost every urban household.