National Cheese Toast Day Date in the current year: September 15, 2024

Cheese toast, also known as cheese on toast, is just what it says on the tin: a slice of toasted bread with grated or sliced cheese on top. The cheese is typically melted under the grill or in the oven. Cheese on toast is similar to Welsh rarebit, a dish consisting of a hot cheese sauce served on a slice of toasted bread, which has been around since at least the early 18th century. Some even claim that the two dishes are one and the same.

Cheese toast is most commonly made with cheddar cheese because it melts easily. Other suitable cheeses include Emmental, Fontina, Gouda, Gruyere, Muenster, and Red Leicester. In addition to melted cheese, cheese on toast can include other toppings, such as raw or grilled chopped onions, pickled cucumbers, fried tomatoes, ketchup or some other sauce, fried eggs, baked beans, herbs, and many more. Cheese toast can be served as an appetizer, with soup or salad, as a main course, or as a snack.

Cheese toast should not be confused with grilled cheese. Although both dishes consist of bread and cheese and are delicious comfort food, there is a difference. Cheese toast has only one piece of bread, whereas a grilled cheese is a sandwich and therefore consists of two slices of bread.

Cheese on toast is mostly popular in English-speaking countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Africa and the Caribbean, and, of course, the United States. The person credited with popularizing cheese toast in the United States is Del Johnson, the founder of Sizzler Family Steak House in Culver City, California. Johnson and his wife Helen opened their first restaurant in 1958, and cheese toast quickly became one of the most popular items on the menu. The original cheese toast was made from egg bread topped with Parmesan cheese.

Today, Sizzler USA is a restaurant chain that operates several dozen locations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Puerto Rico. The company created National Cheese Toast Day in 2015 to celebrate one of its signature dishes with free samples, giveaways, and other events and activities.

You can celebrate National Cheese Toast Day by having brunch, lunch or dinner at your favorite place that serves cheese toast, cooking delicious cheese toast at home, and sharing the photos of your cheese toast and/or your favorite recipes on social media with the hashtags #NationalCheeseToastDay and #CheeseToastDay to promote the holiday.

So, how do you make cheese toast at home? To make basic cheese on toast, take a slice of bread and butter it on both sides. You can experiment with different breads to figure out which one you like the most. Quickly fry the bread on both sides. Add grated or sliced cheese on top of the bread and cook the toast under the grill or in the oven for a couple of minutes.