Published in August 27th, 2008
A celebratory toast to the bride and groom is deeply ingrained in wedding tradition, but do you know how the venerable custom came about? In Bottom’s Up!, a 2005 book of cocktail lore, former maritime reporter Robert McKenna solves the mystery.
Drinking to a person’s health or happiness dates to Greek hosts who wanted to assure guests that the wine they drank was not poisoned. But the word “toast” comes from the Latin word “tostus,” meaning roasted or parched, and it came about during Roman times. Wine wasn’t very tasty then, so drinkers plunked a bit of burnt bread into their goblets to improve the flavor. The custom continued into the 1600s on European waterfronts, where seaman dropped a bit of toast in their glasses of ale or mulled wine. When the crouton grew soggy and sank to the bottom, inevitably one of the drinkers would call, “Toast!” and they’d race one another to see who could finish the drink first and eat the saturated bread.
Related posts