In the US at least, it seems that sandwiches – bread with slop in the middle – are extremely popular, they are everywhere.
Why is this so prevelant? Classical cuisine doesn’t seem to have many sandwiches, if any. (Except a fairly modern “Croque Monsieur” bistro special). It seems to have been an anglo-saxon thing. I can understand sandwiches in certain places where forks are unavailable, such as picnics in the deep woods, but it seems like that vast majority of lunches are all slices of meat + lettuce leaf + sauce between two slices of pullman loaf. Or maybe a hoagie style alternative.
How did it get this way? Are people less formal, and prefer finger foods? Cheaper? Easier?
A torta actually is a sandwich. There’s Banh Mi in Viet Nam and some kind of sandwich available in every Latin Amerifcan and European country I’ve been to.
Sandwiches are quick to make and eat. They generally don’t require utensils, either. Most folks don’t have the time for a full-on proper meal for lunch, so sandwiches are a good alternative.
Because you can have a sandwich every day of the week and each day is different:
Monday: PB&J
Tuesday: Turkey and Swiss on Rye
Wed: Bacon and Cheddar Cheese on toast
Thu: Salami and Provolone on a hoagie roll
Fri: Cheese and tomato on wheat
Mix and match your condiments, and there you go.
Plus it’s a “lighter” meal and less formal than something you have to eat with a knife and a fork.
I grew up with lots of sandwiches - of course lunch, but also breakfast - my Dad would always make me an egg sandwich for the ride to school, and left overs from turkey or roast beef would be open face sandwiches with gravy.
My wife and I joke that I will eat anything wrapped in a carbohydrate - bread, tortilla, pita, etc… I love bread like substances…
Therefore, I was able to lose 35 lbs in 6 months on the South Beach diet … but then when I stopped … 50 pounds in 4 years…sigh…have to do it all over again.
The office I work in has a costumer support group that brings customers in for training which last for 3 to 5 days. So of course they bring in food - sandwiches - each day and of course they over order…so every day there are left overs…why buy lunch when its provided for you…I have worked in the location (more or less) since 1999 and we have been buying food from the same place since 1999…man I hate their food…but its free…
Spain has bocadillos, simple baguette sandwiches that are popular for lunch. They also have a couple of major chains of sandwich shops that sell pretty ornate sandwiches. Italy has the same kind of thing. So I think the premise that it’s anglo-saxon is flawed.
I find this question and its reference to the US as a singularity puzzling. Aren’t “sandwiches” (a very general term, as sandwiches come in all varieties of breads and fillings from many different ethnic areas) universal at this point? Nouveau Euro sandwiches like panini, tortilla wraps with just about anything in them (from tuna salad to chicken tandoori to vegetarian fillings), Italian heros (“hoagies”) with meats and cheeses like cappicolla, mortadella and provolone, German/Jewish sandwiches like ham and swiss or pastrami on rye, Mexican “sandwiches” like burritos or empanadas, Indian “dough-wrapped savory stuff” like dosas or samosas… Hot sandwiches like chicken parmigiana or a Philly cheesesteak… And plain standard stuff like roast beef, bologna and cheese, or PB&J. The world is full of delicious so-called sandwiches!
I certainly eat a lot of sandwiches, and it’s not hard to say why. As you point it, sandwiches are ideal for “places where forks are unavailable” – more specifically, places where you can’t use a fork to eat, because you’re standing up, walking or driving while you eat, sitting outside on a bench, or basically any time where one is buying or packing food made in one place but eating it somewhere else. This last phrase describes 95% of my workday breakfast and lunches; my standard breakfast is eggs on toasted bread (as a sandwich). If you count me as eating 3 meals a day, that means about 10 of my 21 meals are in sandwich form at a minimum. If you count a hamburger or hot dog as a sandwich (which it basically is, by your description, of “slop between slices of bread”) then I’m almost certainly eating more than 50% of my diet in sandwich form.
But as you can see from my list earlier, that doesn’t mean I have a boring or restricted list of options.
I think it is based on the American work ethic. You can’t stop and have a seven course meal at lunch time (for most folks) so you have to compact it. What better way than a sandwich? You have bread (carbs) meats and cheese, and a veg (lettuce, tomato) all in a neat little package.
In Pittsburgh, they take it a step further at Primanti Brothers. They put the fries and the cole slaw in the sandwich. A full meal for truckers between two slices of bread…
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