# Sandwiches: how should they be cut? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102 "2010-05-28T18:49:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/1 "2010-05-28T18:49:52Z")
For the sake of this question, imagine you wander into the kitchen and make yourself a sandwich. You’ve got your rather dull loaf of store-bought bread. Maybe it’s PB&J on white bread, or you’re getting in touch with your inner New Yorker and you slap some pastrami on rye. Whatever. You make a tasty sandwich. What do you do before you eat it? For clarification: \*Vertical meaning cut so that you end up with rounded ‘top’ crust on both halves. \*Horizontal, meaning half your sandwich has only ‘top’ crust and the other only bottom. \*Diagonally, from corner to corner. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/2 "2010-05-28T18:51:33Z")
Quarters, either squares or triangles. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/3 "2010-05-28T18:57:13Z")
The same way you do toast - [by heraldic field division](http://www.khevron.com/). (Scroll down halfway - click for a larger version.) Personally, I tend to go for quarterly. Especially if there’s a big, sliding slice of tomato in it. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/4 "2010-05-28T18:57:45Z")
Depends on the bread shape. My usual sandwich loaf is somewhat wider than it is tall. These sandwiches I cut vertically. With a more perfectly square slice, I’ll cut diagonally. If I’m really concerned about being proper then I’ll cut it into 13 exactly identical pieces. A protractor and laser surface mapping gear is essential for this task. The thirteenth piece is of course sacrificed to Slaanesh as a mark of respect and fealty. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/5 "2010-05-28T19:00:56Z")
Look at the sandwich with the crust as up and perpendicular right of the center as 0 degrees like a standard graph. Slice at about 60 degrees and 240 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/6 "2010-05-28T19:01:43Z")
Diagonally, and then again into triangles if desired. Sandwiches just taste better that way. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/7 "2010-05-28T19:02:14Z")
Depends on the type of sandwich. Grilled cheese always has to be cut diagonally. All other sandwiches get a vertical cut. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/8 "2010-05-28T19:02:28Z")
Unless I can’t hold the sandwich together I don’t cut it at all. When i do make a monstrous sandwich that requires both hands to hold half of it then I’m cut it vertically. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/9 "2010-05-28T19:09:43Z")
If it’s for me, for lunch, I don’t cut it at all. If it’s for dinner, I get fancy and cut diagonally. For my kids, it’s crust off, four squares (per their request). ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/10 "2010-05-28T19:14:14Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > Depends on the type of sandwich. Grilled cheese always has to be cut diagonally. All other sandwiches get a vertical cut. Yeah, why is that, exactly? Something about grilled cheese that needs to be cut on the diagonal, but what? I don’t know, but it just isn’t right any other way. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/11 "2010-05-28T19:15:27Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Yeah, why is that, exactly? Something about grilled cheese that needs to be cut on the diagonal, but what? I don’t know, but it just isn’t right any other way. Expose the most amount of cheese maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/12 "2010-05-28T19:16:50Z")
I don’t cut my sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/13 "2010-05-28T19:19:23Z")
It’s a better shape for dipping in the tomato soup maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/14 "2010-05-28T19:23:58Z")
When I first started making sandwiches for The Littlest Briston, I always cut them into four squares. Then one day, in a bid to change things up a bit, I cut them into triangles. She was hooked – that’s the only way she wanted them. Recently, my wife made her a sandwich and forgot about how imperative it was that she cut it into triangles, and made the first cut down the middle. TLB saw this and flipped out – her world was ending…until mommy told her she was cutting her sandwich into _crazy_ triangles. TLB was amazed, and that’s how she always requests we cut her sandwiches now. I didn’t see anything that accurately depicts them, so [here’s how “crazy trianges”](http://www.sirblah.com/misc/sandwich-cut.jpg) are made. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/15 "2010-05-28T19:28:39Z")
Square and rectangular cuts do taste gross but even that is better than a sandwich I cut myself. I always get the nearest female to cut my sandwich for me so that I can eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/16 "2010-05-28T19:31:40Z")
The only time I’d cut a sandwich is for a little kid. That would be diagonally. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/17 "2010-05-28T19:36:17Z")
Interesting article about this very subject [here](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120914097). According to them, diagonal cuts maximize crust-free surface. Makes sense, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/18 "2010-05-28T19:58:50Z")
But, but…the crust is the best part! ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/19 "2010-05-28T20:15:20Z")
Oh no! I’m the only person who cuts their sandwich in half horizontally! I think I’m also the first British person to respond. Coincidence…?! On different breads, I prefer different crusts. Cheap white bread quite often has a less nice top, so I eat that first. Home made bread usually has a nice top, so I eat it last. Cutting it in half horizontally makes sure I don’t accidentally eat all the best bit first. I do cut my cheese (or whatever) toasties in half diagonally, but I think that’s because the old fashioned toasty machines always cut them diagonally. If it’s a grilled cheese sandwich (not a toasty), I still cut it in half horizontally. The exception is cucumber sandwiches, which should always be cut into triangles. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102/20 "2010-05-28T20:24:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > But, but…the crust is the best part! When I was a kid, my mom always told me that the crust had more nutrients in it and I should eat it. It’s amazing how old I was before I actually thought hard about that statement and realized… no it doesn’t! It’s just the cooked outside part! :smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandwiches-how-should-they-be-cut/541102.md?page=2)