The gourmet-ification (is that even a word? It is now) of so-called "dirty" foods is now a well-established trend; viz burgers, hot dogs, barbecue, pizza most famously. We're all happy to get spend-y on what we see as/are told is "artisanal", worth the money, special, deserving of our dough. And now we're being told that the HOT NEW THING to spend our dough on is - brace - dough. Toast. One slice or two at around the £3 mark, to be exact. And we're not talking white sliced with spread from the local caff either.
The upwards trending of the humble loaf is nothing new, to be fair. We've been paying through the nose for so-called artisanal bread for years, setting aside the fact that we've been able to make bread like this for SODDING CENTURIES, PEOPLE and it's just 3 ingredients that any fule can put together. Now the ever-strengthening wind of craziness from the West has blown in with a load of hot air about toast. Apparently in San Francisco (the epicentre of all food trends, ridiculous and otherwise), they realised the comfort value of the slice and then - more likely - the monetary value if they flogged it with some whipped butter and "homemade" jams or peanut butter at $4 a pop. So now monkey see monkey do, as London cafes and bakery chains rub their hands together with glee and get the toaster popping with their "hand-carved" sourdoughs, British jams (!?) and more "homemade" peanut butter (which isn't going to taste any different to Sun-Pat). Even better, the trend is now to put the toasters on the table so you can toast the bread yourself. What - WHAT - are you paying them for? Stay home and eat it in the comfort of your pyjamas.
Frankly we can't see this trend spreading (ha!) outside the capital; those of us living in the provinces just aren't daft enough to spend the price of a pint or large glass of wine on something we scoff down pre- and post-booze in a vain attempt to "soak it up". And given a sourdough loaf can cost £3 from the farmers' market or bakery, why on earth would we spend the same on a single slice? Talk about dough for brains. Given you can make a really good loaf at home, even without a bread maker, and still pile it high with peanut butter and strawberry jam for about 50p and call it dinner, we'd rather keep our dough for something really special. Now, who's got the crisps?
