ADVENTURES OF THE SANDWICH GUY
“Best Food” the Sandwich
A Short History of the Sandwich Part 1
So, I was surfing the net the other day when I happened to spot a link about National Sandwich Day. Intrigued, I clicked on it, and found that (though it hasn’t been recognized since the ‘80s) National Sandwich Day is November 3. How could I have missed it? How could, I the Sandwich Guy, not have known about this most auspicious holiday? Determined that no other such important Sandwich Statistic should pass me by, I started Googling the word sandwich, and began to learn a few other interesting facts about our country’s favorite food….
Ask the average American who invented the sandwich, and they’ll probably tell you something about an earl. They wouldn’t be too far off, either, since the word itself does derive from the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montague. Rumored to be a compulsive gambler, the story goes that Montague insisted on eating all his meals in this “bread trough” so his hands were not dirty when he rolled the dice or played his cards. The people the Earl was playing with often said, “I’ll have what Sandwich is having.” But though we can credit the word to Montague, where did the delicious combination of bread and meat layered together actually originate?
The first recorded sandwich I could find is credited to a rabbi, Hillel the Elder to be precise, who came up with it in the 1st century BC. His fruit and nut-stuffed Matzohs became a Passover tradition, but thankfully the sandwich hardly stopped there. In the Middle Ages, food was piled on pieces of stale bread called “trenchers” and eaten off with a knife- but when they were finished with their meat and gravy, they would throw the bread to their dogs. Though Dr. Atkins might approve of this behavior, throwing your bread away would be considered a travesty in my house, and so I can barely consider these “trenchers” sandwiches at all. Then came the Earl of Sandwich, with his eponymous favorite snack and its rise in popularity, but what happened next, you ask? And how did the sandwich cross the Atlantic and wind up on our shores? I Googled on!
One of my personal favorites is the Vietnamese classic, the Banh Mi. This sandwich incorporates an incredible range of delicious ingredients, from its rice and wheat flour baguette to its tart pickled vegetables and tangy mayonnaise. A true example of fusion before it was the fashion, the Banh Mi combines Vietnamese flavors with those favored by the French colonists who were prevalent in the country in the late nineteenth century, after being ordered there by Napoleon III in 1858. Pates, mustards and mayonnaise were put on a French baguette and then topped with classic Vietnamese ingredients. Chef Judy’s created her own whimsical play on the classic using braised and caramelized pork belly…and it’s definitely not to be missed.
In 1840, Englishwoman Elizabeth Leslie’s Directions for Cookery included a recipe for a cold ham sandwich. Like the title of her book, the recipe is simple, but that is how the sandwich started out- simple. Two pieces of bread, a piece of meat, maybe a little mustard. Not too bad, but hardly inspired, and nothing that’s gonna win Best Sandwich or get a Sandwich Guy like me excited. The real leap from staple sustenance to mouth-watering, flavorful, layered deliciousness came after the introduction on the market of sliced bread. In true American style, it wasn’t until the work was done for us that we started getting creative. And creative we did get.
Though there aren’t a lot of foods Americans can take credit for, there are a few sandwiches we can call our own. Grilled Cheese, Cheese Steak, and the hoagie all originated here. The Sloppy Joe is one of ours too, though nobody seems to be able to agree where exactly it originated. It might be named for the Iowan cook who claimed to be the first one to douse the loose meat sandwich in ketchup, or it might be named after the Key West bar who says they made it first. It might even just be named after a messy eater named Joe. We might not know for sure who it’s named after, but I do know it’s delicious- just don’t forget your napkins when you order one!
And for anyone who’s enjoyed the incredible simplicity of the PB&J, you can thank the GIs during World War II who put their rations of Peanut Butter and Jelly together on a cracker and started a revolution. Everybody knows that Elvis’s favorite snack was a fried Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich, but did you know that the classic Fluffernutter sandwich started out in New England? And while the emergence of the Banh Mi in the US in the 1970s is a close second on the list of Sandwich Things I give thanks to, I would have to say that, for this Italian-American Sandwich Guy, the number one thing to thank the Sandwich Heavens for is the creation of the Italian Sandwich. Check back for the next post and I’ll tell you all about the origins of some of my favorite Italian Sandwiches….
Best Sandwiches,
The Sandwich Guy
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