Melba toast
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Melba toast is a very dry, crisp, thinly sliced toast often served with soups and salads, or topped with melted cheese. It is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of Australian opera singer Helen Porter Mitchell. The term is thought to date back to 1897, a year when the singer was very ill and this kind of toast became a staple of her diet.
Melba toast is made by lightly toasting bread in the normal way. Once the outsides of the bread are slightly firm, it is removed from the toaster and then each slice is cut in half "longitudinally" with a bread knife to make two slices each half the thickness. These two thin slices are then toasted again to make Melba Toast.
A character in Richard Linklater's film Dazed and Confused (1993) names his muscle car Melba Toast. In one episode of the American animated series Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko becomes infatuated with a girl named Melba Toast.
