Toasting is an ancient tradition which connotes celebration and good times. Today toasting remains an important practice in many cultures around the world. But why do we call it a toast?  How exactly does the word “toast,” as in dry bread, figure into festive drinking?

Well, it turns out dunking literal pieces of toast into a drink during celebrations in someone’s honor was commonplace centuries ago. In the 17th century, popular practice encouraged the addition of spiced toast to wine. The practice came from the idea that the bread soaked up unwanted bitter or acidic sediments found in wine, thus making the drink more enjoyable. Another origin of “toasting” comes from Spain where barkeepers would cover their customers’ drinks with slices of bread to keep insects from entering.  Over time this ritual became a celebration, and the piece of bread would be given to the person being honored, while everyone else drank. Here, the phrase ‘toasting’ was born. In fact, ‘toasting’ became so popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, we also saw the introduction of the ‘toastmaster.’ Toastmasters were responsible for ensuring patrons didn’t over-toast, which was becoming a major issue for drinking establishments.   By the 18th century, the term “toast” somehow became more entwined with the person receiving the honor than the bread itself, which is also where the phrase “toast of the town” originates.

Although dipping crusty bread into your beverage isn’t a common custom today, you don’t have to look hard to find remnants of the practice in literature. In William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, the hard-drinking Falstaff quips, “Go, fetch me a quart of sack [wine]; put a toast in ’t.”  Lodowick Lloyd’s The Pilgrimage of Princes, contains the passage “Alphonsus … tooke a toaste out of his cuppe, and cast it to the Dogge,” confirming that the alcohol-infused bread didn’t always go to waste after being dunked.

Whichever stories are true, the custom of toasting is now a mostly universal tradition. It’s exclaimed in a myriad of languages — Cheers! Prost! Salud! L’chaim! — and done throughout celebrations of all kinds, from New Year’s Eve to weddings to a night out at the pub with friends. For the most part, toasting across the world is a similar practice involving a drink, a clink of glasses, and a proclamation, but some cultures have added their own twists to the tradition.

Now for a bit of levity: 

In Australia, it’s popular for a group of friends to call out, “Cheers, Big Ears!” as they raise their glasses in a toast, followed by the response, “Same goes, Big Nose!” There isn’t much meaning or any historical significance behind the phrases other than it’s funny and it rhymes. It’s also not meant as an insult either and is usually said with a tone of affection, so no need to get offended if you hear it from a friend from down under during an informal night of drinking at the pub.  Of course, this all falls apart when you are toasting someone for being crass… 😊

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