Dream of the Rarebit Fiend He addressed religious leaders, alcoholism, homelessness, political speeches, suicide, fashion, and other topics, whereas his other strips were fantasy or had seemingly vague, timeless backgrounds. The strip referenced contemporary events such as the 1904 election of Theodore Roosevelt; the recently built Flatiron Building (1902) and St. Regis Hotel (1904) in New York City; and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. The rarebit is a dish typically made with rich cheese thinned with ale and served melted on toast with cayenne and mustard mixed in. McCay used it despite its innocuousness—cultural theorist Scott Bukatman states rarebit was not the sort of dish
Texas toast to be the originator of the onion ring. Texas toast may have been first created in 1946 at the Pig Stand in Denton, Texas, after a bakery order for thicker slices of bread resulted in slices too thick for the toaster and a cook, Wiley W. W. Cross, suggested buttering and grilling them as a solution. Another Pig Stand cook in Beaumont, Texas claimed he created the idea of grilling the bread. W.W.W. Cross is also credited for combining the Texas toast with the chicken fried steak to create Kirby's Pig Stand's famous Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich. Texas toast Texas