The Chilean toaster (''tostador chileno'') is a kitchen appliance created in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

around the 1920s and popularized from the 1950s onwards. It is an appliance usually used in gas stoves and is one of the traditional kitchen utensils of Chile, making it a characteristic part of its popular culture; among the foods that are usually heated or prepared using a Chilean toaster are

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

(especially marraqueta), humitas, sopaipillas and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. In Italy there is a variation known as ''

brustolina The is a grill which fits over a gas burner on a hob. It consists of a square sheet of metal with holes punched in it (the base) and a square grid over the top (the grilling surface). Heat is applied from below and is evenly distributed by th ...

''.

History

At the end of the 19th century, there were tin toasters in countries in the northern hemisphere, which, unlike the Chilean toaster, had a completely flat surface under the grill. An example of this can be seen in a

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

catalogue published in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

in 1893. The Chilean toaster was created around 1920 by craftsmen who designed a tin appliance with holes in its surface, attached to a wire that served as a handle and that was used to heat food on the stoves of kitchens used in the Chilean countryside, serving as a heat diffuser. One of its characteristics is its folding handle, which allows for better storage, and its handle that has been made from different materials, including metal, wood or plastic. Among the advantages of the Chilean toaster is that it can be used to heat any type of food placed on its surface, especially bread, since electric toasters generally only accept thin slices of bread, which contrasts with the varieties consumed in Chile such as marraqueta or hallulla. Since 1950, the Chilean toaster began to be mass produced, mainly through the company Virutex Ilko, which developed a special robot that makes the utensils, using in 2010 twenty tons of tinplate and 100 kilometers of galvanized wire each month to make one million toasters each year; by 2022 production was 20,000 toasters per month. In addition to national production, Virutex Ilko exports toasters to countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Colombia; in the latter country it is known as " arepa toaster" (''tostador de arepas''), while in Spain it is known as "gas toaster" (''tostador para gas'').

References

{{reflist, 2 Chilean cuisine Chilean inventions Kitchenware Firing techniques

History

See also

References