Apicius describes an early French-toast-like dish called aliter dulcia.
Apicius is the name traditionally associated with De re coquinaria, the surviving ancient Roman cookbook. One recipe in the collection instructs cooks to use fine white bread, remove the crust, break it into pieces, soak it in milk and beaten egg, fry it in oil, and serve it with honey. This preparation resembles later French toast.
The cookbook’s authorship is not straightforward. It is commonly linked to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a wealthy Roman gastronome who lived during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, but the surviving text was compiled later and includes material from different periods.
The recipe does not prove that French toast originated in ancient Rome. Similar soaked-bread dishes developed independently or through later culinary transmission in many regions. It does show that cooks in the Roman world already used the basic technique of enriching stale bread with milk, egg, frying, and sweetener.