Why are the elite called the "upper crust"?

BaronBatty

Advance within twenty yards of any English manor house that has mediaeval kitchens and you can't avoid hearing that 'upper crust was the superior, unburnt part of a loaf that was served to the gentry'. Nice idea, but that's all it is, an idea; it may be true but there's no documentary evidence to support it. The nearest we can come to that is the earliest known example of the term in print, which does make an oblique connection between the top part of a loaf and the nobility. This is from John Russell's The boke of nurture, folowyng Englondis gise, circa 1460: Kutt ye vpper crust for youre souerayne. (i.e. Cut the upper crust [of the loaf] for your sovereign). http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/upper-crust.html Aug 28 10, 12:57 AM