# Subway Salads - what moron came up with this idea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999 "2008-05-20T18:15:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/41 "2008-05-22T14:12:28Z")
[QUOTE=LurkMeister] Instead of the usual hinge-type cut (like a hot dog bun) Subway used to make two angled cuts which ran the length of the bread, kind of like scooping out the center. From the end, it looked like this (_/_) although the cut didn’t actually go all the way through the bread. The filling was then placed into the center and the cut-out piece was placed over it. The advantage was that you didn’t have to turn your head or the sandwich sidewise to eat it, and there was less spillage. Of course, it was more work and took a little practice to do properly, which is probably why they stopped doing it. _and I should have previewed so I’d see that someone beat me to it…_ [/QUOTE] Thanks for the info but… You have to turn your head (or the sandwich) sideways to eat a flat-cut one? 😕 I’ll pay more attention next time I eat a sub to see if I can figure out what you mean. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/42 "2008-05-22T15:17:16Z")
It must have made sense to me at the time, but now that I’ve gotten some sleep, even I can’t figure out what I meant by that. Unless I was thinking about the way the fillings tend to stick out the side of the sandwich, and sometimes when I try to put the sandwich in my mouth it ends up dribbling out. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/43 "2008-05-22T15:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=LurkMeister] It must have made sense to me at the time, but now that I’ve gotten some sleep, even I can’t figure out what I meant by that. Unless I was thinking about the way the fillings tend to stick out the side of the sandwich, and sometimes when I try to put the sandwich in my mouth it ends up dribbling out. [/QUOTE] A good sandwich will have everything tucked in neatly, usually with the bread hollowed out a little to provide space for the ingredients. Subway doesn’t make good sandwiches, though. They overstuff them and leave it all hanging out, so it is pretty likely that stuff will fall out. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/44 "2008-05-22T15:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] It was obvious to me that the U cut was designed to make the sandwich look like it was stuffed with more fillings because they were hanging out of the top. As fewer people were fooled by this deception, they adopted the flat cut, which is the way god intended a sandwich to be made. That U cut was a silly marketing idea that was more difficult to eat. [/QUOTE] How in the world does the U cut make a sandwich harder to eat? It propertly contains the contents instead of allowing them to slide out of the back when you bite it. It’s because of the switch that I can no longer eat a Subway sandwich while driving. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/45 "2008-05-22T16:25:34Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] It was obvious to me that the U cut was designed to make the sandwich look like it was stuffed with more fillings because they were hanging out of the top. As fewer people were fooled by this deception, they adopted the flat cut, which is the way god intended a sandwich to be made. That U cut was a silly marketing idea that was more difficult to eat. [/QUOTE] I’d love to hear how it made it _more_ difficult to eat. When they fold a flat-cut sub, the other half tears and your fillings have a free-for-all everytime you take a bite. And even if the other side manages to stay intact, they all go Houdini out the back. This was never a problem with the U-cut. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/46 "2008-05-23T04:43:04Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] I’d love to hear how it made it _more_ difficult to eat. When they fold a flat-cut sub, the other half tears and your fillings have a free-for-all everytime you take a bite. And even if the other side manages to stay intact, they all go Houdini out the back. This was never a problem with the U-cut. [/QUOTE] Can I hear an AMEN! The “U” cut was unique and a Good Idea[sup]TM[/sup]. Damn progress all to hell. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/47 "2008-05-23T12:10:24Z")
Do they not have create-a-salad places in Calgary? They are all over here in New York, the ingredients are fresher than subway, and they tend to be much larger. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/48 "2008-05-23T12:11:53Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] “subway sauce” just sounds wrong. [/QUOTE] Some friends of mine and I have been calling the sludge at the bottom of the subway that for years. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/49 "2008-05-23T12:17:05Z")
[QUOTE=Aangelica] Huh. I’ve never had a problem with the Subway near me (downtown NYC) shorting on protien or veggies. I couldn’t tell you if they mix the salads or clump them though, since I never order the salad (because if I want a salad, there’s a salad place in the lobby of my building - as opposed to Subway, which is half a block away). Generally the sandwiches are pretty much like the ones in the ads - at least in quantity of stuff on them, if not appearance. Although, if you want to micromanage the amounts of veggies on your sub, you better be _quick_ about it. If you take your time to mention you’d like more olives that that, your sub will be wrapped and ready to go before you get the words out. Those guys are _fast_ on the sandwich making. They have to be. One of them told me once that they average around 1,000 sandwiches between 12:30 and 2:30 (including the delivery subs - Subway here _delivers_)every weekday. I know they have lines to the door (sometimes out the door) every time I’m there, and I’ve never waited longer than 10 minutes for a sandwich. [/QUOTE] I worked at the subway across from Madison Square Park on 23rd street many years ago. I got fired because I couldn’t make a sandwich in under a minute for the lunch rush. If I were in the suburbs, I would’ve been the fastest guy on the line. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/50 "2008-05-23T12:21:00Z")
[QUOTE=Ruby] Can I hear an AMEN! The “U” cut was unique and a Good Idea[sup]TM[/sup]. Damn progress all to hell. [/QUOTE] Yes, and the idea that it’s difficult to do is total bollocks. It’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/51 "2008-05-23T12:23:09Z")
The only problem with the U-cut is that the top bread tends to disappear as you eat it–sometimes you are left with nothing to hold onto on the top. Not quite sure why this happens, but it tends to happen on any sandwich where the top and the bottom bun are not very equal. I like places like Jimmy John’s and Erbert and Gerbert’s where they scoop out the middle of the bread so that the fillings fit nicely. I especially like Erbert and Gerbert’s because they give you those yummy “bread guts” to eat with your sandwich–Jimmy John’s just throws them away! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/52 "2008-05-23T18:13:44Z")
Do your Subways have spinach any more? Every since the e.coli or whatever scare, none of our Subways have offered spinach. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/53 "2008-05-23T18:34:35Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Do your Subways have spinach any more? Every since the e.coli or whatever scare, none of our Subways have offered spinach. [/QUOTE] Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999/54 "2008-05-24T03:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] I worked at the subway across from Madison Square Park on 23rd street many years ago. I got fired because I couldn’t make a sandwich in under a minute for the lunch rush. If I were in the suburbs, I would’ve been the fastest guy on the line. [/QUOTE] I was thinking the same thing. Our Subways couldn’t even take the damned order in under a minute let alone make the sandwich, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subway-salads-what-moron-came-up-with-this-idea/449999.md?page=2)