• The first electric toaster was most likely invented in 1905, which is the year Albert Marsh developed the Nichrome wire, making the electric toaster possible. The first toaster had a colorful name,"El Tosto."

• The first U.S. patent for an electric toaster was made in 1909 by General Electric for an appliance that was nothing more than exposed heating elements surrounded by a wire cage to hold the bread. This model, the D-12, is considered the first commercially successful toaster in U.S. history.

• The toaster did not really take off until after 1933 when sliced bread was invented, which makes it official: historically speaking, the toaster is the next best thing since sliced bread.

• The first ever fully-automatic pop-up toaster is the Toastmaster one-A-one, invented in 1926. It was not cheap. In today's dollars this would have gone for $150 and was a prized wedding gift.

• To document innovation, design and the impact of electricity on the household and family, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has close to 100 non-electric and electric toasters in its collections, ranging from the 18 th century to the 1980s.

• Recent Toaster Collector Conventions: 2005 Rochester, MN; 2004 Toledo, OH; 2003 Richmond, VA; 2000 Akron, OH; 1999 Columbia, SC.

• Nearly every home in America has a toaster. Average household spends 35 hours a year making toast.

An estimated 75 million Americans eat toast everyday.

The process that caramelizes toast - cooking the sugars in the bread and turning them golden brown - begins at 310 degrees Farenheit and is called the Maillard reaction, which gives toast its flavor and its crunch.

• November is National Bread Month. The Grain Foods Foundation is marking the occasion by celebrating the 100 th anniversary of the invention of the electric toaster.

• Bread has essential vitamins and nutrients, which may help prevent heart disease and some cancers. It also provides fuel needed for energy.

• Enriched grains, found in white bread, contain twice the amount of folic acid as whole grains. Folic acid intake is especially critical to women of child-bearing age as it may help prevent birth defects. Grain foods are the largest source of folic acid in the American diet.

Recipes and more information: www.grainpower.org

Toaster Museum Foundation - www.toaster.org

Buy and sell vintage toasters - www.toastercentral.com

Cookbook: Toast; 60 Ways to Butter Your Bread and Then Some; Jesse Ziff Cool

Comedian/songwriter, "Toast" song, Children's book author of "Toast!": Heywood Banks, Howell, Michigan; www.ComedyHome.com