# Do American people make sandwiches at home? Or is it more of a specialty thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [June 10, 2025, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414 "2025-06-10T07:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/41 "2025-06-10T13:23:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Although making a sandwich at home does require that one have the ingredients (bread, cold cuts, condiments, lettuce, tomato, etc.). Many don’t keep those because they don’t make sandwiches often enough that the extra ingredients would spoil before the next occasion, particularly those without children at home. Yup. The only sandwich i routinely make at home is pb&j. And i guess i sometimes melt cheese onto a slice of toast in the toaster oven. I’ve never made sushi for a number of reasons (including that my husband doesn’t eat it) but I’ve watched friends make it, and it’s very easy. I think it is similar in complexity to making a sandwich, assuming you have a rice cooker and the rolling mat. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/42 "2025-06-10T13:31:41Z")
[![](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/81dfcb4f_ece7_44fc_9947_a9ae3a56a4e8.jpeg) ](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/81dfcb4f_ece7_44fc_9947_a9ae3a56a4e8.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/43 "2025-06-10T13:31:50Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think it is similar in complexity to making a sandwich, assuming you have a rice cooker and the rolling mat. Nobody uses a rice cooker or a mat to make a sandwich. You can make a sandwich with no tools at all. How are the two tasks similarly complex? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/44 "2025-06-10T13:35:12Z")
A new sandwich shop opens today near my house. This morning they are having a reuben cutting ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/45 "2025-06-10T13:35:49Z")
This is interesting to me because, growing up in a Polish household, we _always_ had cold cuts on hand, so there’s always the ability to make a sandwich (typically open-face, if doing it the Polish style.) The idea of not having enough ingredients in the house to make a sandwich strikes me as completely foreign. Besides bread, all I need is some ham (or smoked pork loin, or salami or beer sausage or mortadella/bologna) and some mustard for a satisying sandwich. Lettuce is a waste of time usually; tomatoes generally suck unless it’s the summer and you grow them yourself, a bit of onion is quite nice, I will admit. But you don’t need much for a good sandwich. Hell, look at the French jambon beurre. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/46 "2025-06-10T13:36:07Z")
Just watching a very Australian murder mystery and mom makes a serious sandwich. Inspiring. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/c69c1P-EURg/maxresdefault.jpg "The Survivors | Official Trailer | Netflix") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c69c1P-EURg) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/47 "2025-06-10T13:37:56Z")
This OP is sort of like the pedantic nit pickers who are wrong. They should have stayed quiet rather than have everyone know they are an idiot. Sandwiches are of course a quick and easy standard homemade (given store bought sliced bread) lunch that many of us make for ourselves or our kids on a moment’s notice; the standard homemade Japanese lunch is not likely sushi, more like a stir fry with vegetables and tofu with rice, or an udon, or such. At least as I understand it. What place sushi in the home cooked Japanese rotation seems like a reasonable question for me as an American with little cultural knowledge of Japan to ask. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/48 "2025-06-10T13:41:36Z")
I always use a knife when I make a sandwich. How is that less complicated than using a rolling mat? And many people use a toaster when making sandwiches. Most rice cookers are easier to use than my toaster (which requires me to watch it and remove the toast before it burns, or have sad, undercooked toast.) If it’s a common tool you know how to use, it’s a simple process. > [@pulykamell](#): > > we _always_ had cold cuts on hand And I discovered that cold cuts don’t keep all that well. I don’t enjoy the ham that’s been sitting in the fridge for a week. So I stopped buying coldcuts. I guess salami keeps better, but it’s not something I eat very often, and it’s not especially healthy, so I don’t keep it around, either. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/49 "2025-06-10T13:42:47Z")
That is obviously a cultural thing. My college roommate was from Russia and he too regularly kept cold cuts on hand. Meanwhile I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/50 "2025-06-10T13:44:22Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > What place sushi in the home cooked Japanese rotation seems like a reasonable question for me as an American with little cultural knowledge of Japan to ask. Yes, I have no idea what the typical Japanese person eats for lunch at home. fwiw, when I visited Japan, lunch was often onigiri, picked up at 7/11. I saw plenty of Japanese eating the same stuff, but I doubt people make that at home for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/51 "2025-06-10T13:45:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. Sure. But extremely fresh sushi quality raw fish stores less well than cold cuts. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/52 "2025-06-10T13:45:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Meanwhile I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. It’s so standard that you can buy a rice cooker that sends a warning to your child if you haven’t used it in a day – when my mother was declining, I wished there were a similar gadget I could get her. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/53 "2025-06-10T13:46:17Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And I discovered that cold cuts don’t keep all that well. I don’t enjoy the ham that’s been sitting in the fridge for a week. They last about a week to a week and a half before starting to get tacky, so I guess we just get through them a lot faster than you. But I also buy the Polish stuff that seems drier/not-as-injected-with-liquid so it probably lasts longer, too. Cold cuts on their own are just my typical high-protein snack. I don’t do chips–I get some nuts a few cuts of Canadian bacon, maybe some cheese, and go to town. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/54 "2025-06-10T13:48:00Z")
Eh, you can serve sushi in a bowl without ever rolling anything. You still need cooked rice, though, and vinegar, sugar, and salt to mix into it. And something to put on top of it, or you will be eating a plain sandwich, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/55 "2025-06-10T13:55:08Z")
That’s not suggestive _at all_… ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/56 "2025-06-10T13:56:58Z")
I’m not sure if that was a matter of an American and an Australian or if it was a misunderstanding between a non-parent chef and a non-chef parent. Because if an adult was talking to me about a sandwich to hold them over , I wouldn’t think they were talking about PBJ or some bologna with a smear of mustard. > [@SanVito](#): > > Slice? Of course, it’s hardly a specialist skill. Don’t you guys own bread knives? It’s not a specialist skill and I do own a bread knife - but unless I bake it myself or it’s a baguette shaped loaf, it’s usually sliced at the bakery. I mean I could ask for it unsliced at a stand-alone bakery, but why would I when they have a machine that will slice it more evenly than I will? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/57 "2025-06-10T13:58:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That’s not suggestive _at all_… …until you mention the danger of a yeast infection. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/58 "2025-06-10T13:59:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I tried using my home sandwich making kit today Lunchables again? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/59 "2025-06-10T14:05:05Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I can well imagine that in Japanese households, a rice cooker is standard equipment. > > Sure. But extremely fresh sushi quality raw fish stores less well than cold cuts. Does sushi _require_ top grade raw fish? Or can it be made without that? What about Spam based sushi? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414/60 "2025-06-10T14:07:27Z")
I hear that in some states, like New Jersey and California, you need a special permit to make sandwiches at home, or else possess an advanced training certificate. Otherwise people are bound to mismatch coldcuts with the wrong breads and rolls, with catastrophic results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-american-people-make-sandwiches-at-home-or-is-it-more-of-a-specialty-thing/1019414.md?page=4)