who invented french toast

French toast was not actually invented in France. Its earliest known recorded recipe comes from ancient Rome around 300 A.D., found in a Roman cookbook by the author Apicius. The Romans made a dish involving soaking bread in milk and beaten eggs, frying it, and covering it with honey, a precursor to what we now call French toast. The name "French toast" is believed to have originated in America in 1724, attributed to an innkeeper named Joseph French in Albany, New York, who named the dish after himself but left out the apostrophe and "s," which led to the name "French toast" as we know it today. The French themselves traditionally called the dish "pain perdu," meaning "lost bread," referencing the use of stale bread.