In an online debate over what the name for the end slice of a loaf of bread is, some have apparently been calling it the ‘foreloaf’.
If someone offers to make you a piece of toast and you’re coming to the end of the loaf, someone’s going to have to eat the slice that sits on either end. Some love it and some hate it. But what do you call it?
In an online debate, it seems many Brits can’t seem to reach an agreement on what the end slices are called, with a range of names including the ‘crust’, the ‘heel’, the ‘butt’, the ‘foreloaf’, and even good old ‘Steve’.
The discussion began when Twitter account No Context Brits posted a picture of a sliced loaf of bread with an arrow pointing towards the end of it. The text read, ‘what do you call this?’
Moments later, a flurry of tweeters rushed to the comments section to share their opinions on the matter.
The most popular terms seemed to be ‘crust’ and ‘heel’ but there were also a lot of funny comments from people who either loved it or hated it, such as ‘the best bit’, ‘garbage’ and ‘bird food’.
Mike Finn / Wikimedia
Although ‘crust’ seemed widely used, many argued that every slice has crust on it and this wasn’t a distinct enough name for it, despite the end slices being entirely crust on one side.
One person wrote: “I thought everyone called it the crust, never in my life have I heard it called anything else.” While another said: “The crust, obviously.”
Meanwhile, in disagreement, one said: “The crust is across the entire top of the loaf innit.”
Stacy Spensley / Flickr
And another also argued: “No it isn’t. The crust is the outer part of the whole loaf. The end slices are called ‘heels’.”
Someone else added to that, saying: “The heel. Surely everyone calls it that?”
A number of commenters didn’t really have a name for it and simply knew of it as ‘the bit at the end’ or ‘end bit’. One person shared their thoughts: “It’s like a lid. Take a middle slice out, put the crust back to keep the rest fresh.”
Giovanna Rio / Pexels
Aside from that, some funny names given included ‘butt’, ‘bum’ and ‘foreloaf’ — to which someone replied: “legend.” Human names were also thrown into the mix with bread eaters calling the slices at either end of a loaf ‘Callum and Steve’.
It seems the name of this part of a loaf of bread depends a lot on where you may come from regionally, and whether you think it is ‘the best part’ or ‘it’s rubbish and goes straight into the bin’.