Melba toast "Eighteen Day Reducing Diet" to Ethel Barrymore. It included Melba toast, which made the toast very popular at the time. Melba toast Melba toast is a dry, crisp and thinly sliced toast, often served with soup and salad or topped with either melted cheese or pâté. It is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of Australian opera singer Helen Porter Mitchell. Its name is thought to date from 1897, when the singer was very ill and it became a staple of her diet. The toast was created for her by chef and fan Auguste Escoffier, who also created
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1865) (particularly the pool of tears scene, which seems related to the flood of sweat in one early "Rarebit Fiend" strip), and a variety of dream cartoons and illustrations that appeared in various periodicals McCay was likely familiar with. The most probable immediate influence on the strip was "Welsh Rarebit Tales" (1902) by Harle Oren Cummins. Cummins stated he drew inspiration for this collection of 15 science fiction stories from nightmares brought on by eating Welsh rarebit and lobster—making further likely the influence, as several post-"Herald" strips from 1911 and 1912 were titled "Dream