Everyone eats melba toast when they're ill

[ProbablyLate]

When I was young if I ever had a day off school poorly, mum would make me homemade melba toast by cutting the crusts off some bread, toasting it, then slicing it in half horizontally (like making two thinner slices) then grill it with what had been the inside of the toast slice up so it curled up.

I thought, until yesterday, that this was a perfectly standard off-ill delicacy and offered to make some for DH if he had a bad reaction to his vaccine. He was perplexed by the concept and consultation with a wider group suggests this was not as common a practice as I had been led to believe.

So two questions for you all:

1. Is homemade melba toast something that for you goes hand in hand with a day off ill?
2. If not did your parents/carers have any special recipes reserved for the suffering?!

Never had melba toast.

We had egg volcanoes or tinned tomato soup and soft white bread.

Peach melba is something completely different isn't it? (My first thought at seeing this thread was peach too !? )
Have to look it up now!

Yes it's a pudding.

Invented to honour an opera singer called something Melba iirc!

Like others I've struggled to think of foods we had when sick. Certainly honey/lemon/glycerine to soothe a cough and sore throat - went through a lot of that; and hot lemon cordial to drink (or sometimes hot blackcurrant though I think that became more affordable as I got older).

I do recall having meals on a tray in bed though. The rule for us if we were ill enough to be off school we were ill enough to stay in bed, we'd get up for one day before going back to school. When I look back now I've had my own children I'm amazed at the difference. I routinely missed 4-7 consecutive days of school with bronchitis till I was at least 12, sometimes more than once in a year. Had a chat a few weeks back with my 15 yr old, about being ill enough to stay in bed, and he reminded me he'd never ever experienced that. And although his older sister had a serious illness (hospitalised) age 3, she's been robustly healthy most of the time since.

Heinz tomato soup with homemade melba toast here - my mum was a hotel manager in the 1970s before I was born, so she did things that were quite ‘posh’...

Both named for Dame Nellie Melba- famous Australian opera singer- apparently the melba toast originated from food made for her when she was ill.
Dry toast in our house.
You would have had to be at death’s door to get the lucozade in cellophane!

Trifle sponges/sponge fingers and lemonade if sick! No melba toast.

No.

My mum fully believed that her chicken soup could heal almost anything. Thankfully it tasted really good since we had it all the time for all kinds of reasons.

I prefer to eat greek yoghurt when I feel ill. Or plain white buns with cheese.

Oh and for a painful cough I like tea with lemon and honey in it and a big splash of rum added to help me sleep.

My Dad used to make Irish Toast. Toasted & buttered on just one side.

Nope.

I remember being properly ill with scarlet fever, and my mum making the bowl of bread and milk that a pp mentioned her nan making for her.
I must have been ill though, because in general my mum was one of those who didn't fuss over illness.

Lemon & honey in hot water too 👍

South Wales here and it's Flu Stew.

Onions, leeks, carrots, potatoes and parsnips.
All peeled and chopped into chunks.
You can cook them in oil first then add stock or just cook in stock.
Cool over medium heat until all the vegetable are cooked.

If you are up to digesting them add suety dumplings with herbs.

Even if it doesn't cure you it does you good!!

@Hottesttrikeintown

Never had that but quite want to try it! I love melba toast and never tried eating it.

DH is Greek and all Greek mums give their children boiled chicken in rice and lemon when they’re ill (as in boil the entire carcass). I can’t stand the smell of it cooking but once made it for DS when he was ill. He wouldn’t touch it!

I came here to say lemon chicken soup! My favourite as a child. My yaiya would make it for me even if i wasn't Ill 🤣

Not me.

Marmite soldiers and Lucozade

My Mum gave me chicken soup and a spoonful of Minadex.

What? Nope never heard of that. It was a hard boiled egg mashed in a cup with butter and pepper or soup and a cheese toastie.

No and no.

No to melba toast.

But also what is this "egg mashed ina cup" everyone is talking about? And why in a cup?

Is it like scrambled egg? Or mushed up hardboiled egg - and if so why not on a plate...

I've never heard of melba toast.
I don't remember being given anything specific.

OP, dry or melba toast for nausea. Your Mum didn't make it up, you just misremembered what it was for!
Warm squash or Ribena for a cold.
Tomato soup for general poorliness without vomiting (lack of vomiting is key to the appropriateness of tomato soup).
Eggs for recovery.

1. No
2. Lucozade when I was young, with the orange cellophane. For DD (now 18) it's been BRAT - Bananas, Rice, Apple, Toast. She still asks for rice or toast when she's ill.

1. No, never had it.
2. Tuna or egg Mayo sandwich on soft white bread or soup with spice.

I've never had Melba toast.

You can't beat warm lemonade when you've got a sore throat.