The Invisible Banana French Toast Is As Mysterious As It Sounds
1980s nostalgia has peaked in the last few years. With shows like "Stranger Things," "The Goldbergs," "Glow," and "Welcome to Chippendales" taking us back to the '80s, and '80s fashion trends like high-waisted jeans, big earrings, high-cut bathing suits, blazers, and scrunchies ruling the streets again, it was only a matter of time until we started craving '80s food options.
Among the foods from the '80s that are weirdly making a comeback are carbo-loading bread bowls and umami bomb sun-dried tomatoes. Another craveable classic 1980s recipe you might remember from any gathering with children is dirt cake, also known as ghosts in a graveyard. This recipe was originally published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, as before the internet, we got our recipes from print media.
One '80s recipe making the rounds on the interwebs these days is the Reddit-famous invisible banana French toast. What? Invisible banana? If you want to know just how that works, we're happy to indulge you.
The amazing invisible banana French toast
The original recipe for this now internet famous food originally appeared in print media (per Branded in the 80s). That's not surprising since that's what there was at the time. The recipe first appeared as an insert aimed at children in classic mom magazine, Woman's Day, in 1981. And it was a pretty fun insert. The whole insert was comic book themed, right down to the way the recipes were written, so to speak, which was in fact illustrated as comic strips displaying step-by-step visual guides.
Each recipe was modeled after a particular super hero, including Super Man's "Mild Mannered Burger" and "Flash's Quick Apple Crisp." "The Invisible Banana French Toast" featured Batman and Robin. In the accompanying comic, Batman says to Robin, "Perplexing Robin. The French toast certainly tastes like banana, but I can't detect the presence of one. Very curious."
To make this "curious" breakfast treat (or dinner, we're not judging), simply blenderize half a banana into ordinary French toast batter (per Flickr). For those who don't make French toast that often, that's half a banana, one egg, and a half teaspoon of cinnamon. Soak two slices of bread (the recipe recommends whole wheat) in the batter and fry them up in butter or vegetable oil. Add your favorite toppings, like maple syrup, applesauce, yogurt, or fresh fruit.