Why We Toast Each Other and Clink Our Glasses Before Drinking

It’s not something we've ever really thought about, but it turns out there is a history behind the act of toasting and clinking glasses before drinking. 

Apparently the custom of raising a glass to one another dates way back in time, originating with the Romans and the Greeks, who used to offer wine to their gods before celebrations.

The expression ‘to toast’, meanwhile, does actually come from the practice of putting a piece of toast in your drink. It was something people did in Elizabethan times to improve the taste of wine – the bread soaked up some of the acidity in poor wines.

It also helped stretch supplies further in times of scarcity, by softening stale bread.

As for clinking glasses before drinking, there are a few theories, including that the sound would drive off evil spirits.

It was also once used as a method of ensuring no one had poisoned your drink – vigorous clinking would mean your drink mixed with your drinking partner’s, making attempts at poisoning far too dangerous.

And at your next party you can insist every drinker looks you in the eye as you clink glasses individually. The superstition goes, that failure to do so will result in bad sex for seven years.

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