# Sandwich of Death **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 3, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259 "2001-05-03T20:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![City\_Gent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a87d85/32.png) [@City\_Gent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/City_Gent)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/1 "2001-05-03T20:41:33Z")
I may have just eaten spoiled meat. I bought some vacuum-packed salami at a farmer’s market on 4/28. I didn’t put it in the refrigerator when I got home because the lady who was selling it didn’t have it refrigerated; it was just sitting out on a table. Plus, you usually don’t have to refrigerate vacuum-packed pepperoni. Today (5/3), I opened the salami and made a sandwich with it. It was a really good sandwich; it tasted a little “different”, but in a good way; in fact, it was the best salami I’ve ever eaten. After polishing off my sammich, I got to thinking, and I went back to the refrigerator to check the package. There, in small but distinct letters at the bottom of the package, were the words KEEP REFRIGERATED. Into the trash went the remaining salami. Beads of sweat immediately appeared on my forehead. So, I’m opening the wagering. Background: I have a “nervous stomach”, but I haven’t actually thrown up since 1979. Will I puke, get explosive diarrhea and searing abdominal cramps, or somehow escape without injury? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/2 "2001-05-03T21:00:40Z")
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, forbidden sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/3 "2001-05-03T22:33:34Z")
If it was hard salami you are probably okay. If not… it would depend on any contamination in the meat before vacuum packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/4 "2001-05-03T23:34:37Z")
“Sandwich Of Death” sounds like a Jack Chick tract. Description: Mama Cass thought that rock n’ roll and free love was a good way to spend her life. But when she has a run-in with a ham sandwich she discovers that only Jesus is groovy. MarxBoy ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/5 "2001-05-04T00:03:29Z")
You’d best sit down for this. If it was anything but salami, I’d give you a sporting chance. As it stands though, well… Over the course of the next few hours you will experience one or more of the following: 1. Violent projectile vomiting 2. Debilitating abdominal cramping combined with shooting lower back pain 3. Swollen tongue 4. Sustained bleeding from all body cavities. 5. Delerium and dementia 6. Fever and chills 7. Blackouts 8. The willes My advice is to take advantage of your few reamining hours of life. Maybe make another sandwich. Cuz, you know, what would it hurt? ---
**Author:** ![City\_Gent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a87d85/32.png) [@City\_Gent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/City_Gent)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/6 "2001-05-04T04:26:19Z")
Except for a slight case of the willies, I seem to have cheated death this time. But I gots to have more of that salami! ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/7 "2001-05-04T06:39:17Z")
Oh, pooh, **MarxBoy**. Mama Cass didn’t really die by choking on a ham sandwich. Jeez, don’t you watch _Behind the Music_? Unless, of course, you know that and it’s all a joke, in which case: Good one! 🙂 Oh, and **City Gent** , congratulations on cheating death. [Homer Simpson]Mmmmm… Salami…[/Homer Simpson] ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/8 "2001-05-04T11:28:58Z")
sounds like somebody is getting in touch with his inner caveman. and one of the benefits of eating spoiled meat, provided it doesn’t kill you, is that you build up some awesome antibodies. I bet if you did this once a week for say a year, you could sell your refridgerator and save on the electric bill. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/9 "2001-05-04T19:51:08Z")
Salami, being a cured meat, pretty much keeps for awhile without refrigeration, especially if vac-packed. It’s after you open it that it should go in the fridge. Otherwise, in a couple weeks it might get moldy, but even then it probably wouldn’t kill you, except by cancer from eating too much nitrites. Ya gotta remember that sausages were invented as a means of preserving meats; that they’re yummy was only a side benefit. By all means get some more! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/10 "2001-05-06T00:51:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LindyHopper \* > **Oh, pooh, MarxBoy. Mama Cass didn’t really die by choking on a ham sandwich. Jeez, don’t you watch _Behind the Music_?** I believe you, but how **did** she die? ---
**Author:** ![JonScribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3be4f8/32.png) [@JonScribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonScribe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/11 "2001-05-06T01:01:05Z")
No one’s getting fat, 'cept Mama Cass. Poor Cass died of a heart attck in 1974 while touring in London. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/12 "2001-05-06T01:02:13Z")
Somebody have a **heart** and tell him how she died. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/13 "2001-05-06T01:21:50Z")
May I join you on a brush with death? Eating pitta bread I thought the taste and texture were way off, but being hungry and stupid in equal amounts I waited until I had chewed it well and swallowed it before checking what remained only to find the other side cover in mould. mmmmmm… mould… ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/14 "2001-05-06T01:47:06Z")
This is the snopes on Mama’s death [http://www.snopes2.com/music/artists/mamacass.htm](http://www.snopes2.com/music/artists/mamacass.htm) Sorry to hijack. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/15 "2001-05-06T01:55:46Z")
If only Mama Cass had shared her sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they’d both be alive today. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/16 "2001-05-06T05:46:56Z")
Thank you. And samclem, I’m female. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/17 "2001-05-06T09:42:36Z")
**Kinsey** , you are going to hell for that one. And if I had been drinking coffee at the time you would owe me for a new monitor. ---
**Author:** ![gadgetgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@gadgetgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gadgetgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/18 "2001-05-06T10:41:47Z")
Hey CIty! Haven’t heard from you in a little while, how’s the tum-tum? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwich-of-death/64259/19 "2001-05-06T19:39:36Z")
Good one **Kinsey**!