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Toast is a truly marvellous foodstuff. It's (relatively) healthy, has many varieties and is very simple to make. All that is required is a few slices of bread, bung it in a toaster or under a grill and there you are - instant snack.

Bread

A few words need to be said about white and brown bread. People have argued about which one is better ever since ancient times.

Brown bread (or, rather, whole-wheat¹) bread is more nutritious (though not more fattening), and it provides fiber, which is very good for you, or so they say.

It is also tastier according to most people, including this Researcher. However, we are talking about toast here, and white seems to be better for it.

Toaster or Grill?

An intriguing question. It is said that Delia Smith herself thinks that toast is best when done under a preheated grill, but use a toaster for ease of use and speed.

When is it done?

It is generally accepted that toast is "done" when it is lightly brown on each side, but some people like it more toasted.

Butter

Butter is something which almost always goes with toast. It makes it more tasty, and could be used to isolate the other stuff from the bread.

If you have some quite old (but not mouldy) bread, and you have a hard time convincing yourself that you have, after all, to eat it, put some butter on one or both sides before toasting it. This will make it much softer, better, tastier, in one word - edible.

In other cases, it's better to spread the butter on the bread after it's out of the toaster. You'll probably prefer it when the butter is more or less melted, but if you don't, just wait until the toast is not so hot.

Margarine is a replacement for butter based on vegetable oils. It is generally thought to be more healthy, mainly because it contains much less cholesterol, but this is not so certain, as it has been discovered that margarine has its problems too. If you are really concerned about your health, your best go would be to have neither.

Toppings

One of the best thins about toast is that it can go with almost anything else. Choosing a topping that you like is mostly done through experimenting, but here are some guidelines what to put on it.

Just butter or margarine is lovely. Tastes better on white bread, and it's better with butter if you're not counting calories. Try to eat while hot or at least moderately warm. Bite off the crusts first and then enjoy the buttery goodness (mmmm!)

If you are going to have your toast only with butter, you might also want to put salt and different seasonings on top of it; it's very good this way.

With jam

Different jams give different flavours obviously, so feel free to experiment. You can have butter or margarine underneath the jam if you are feeling particularly unhealthy.

With marmalade

Very nice, but make sure the marmalade is a decent one.

With chocolate spread

Unusual, this one. Not one of this Researcher's favourites, but still very nice. The spread sort of melts a bit, though.

In meals

Toast has a very right and proper place in meals, especially breakfast. It can be eaten on its own, or as part of a full breakfast (eg English, continental). In other meals, it is very nice with soup or it instead of bread with a sausage sandwich. Also an essential part of any fry up.