# Why are sandwiches so prevelant? Choice or compromise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081 "2008-07-19T20:42:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/21 "2008-07-21T14:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=Bootis] Good sandwiches are also very tasty. Don’t forget that- they are tasty. [/QUOTE] I think this is totally the reason. You can put almost anything at all in between two slices of bread and it will taste good to somebody. Fast, convenient, inexpensive, tasty, and with a wide variety of optional fillings and bread types. And, often, it’s healthy. Can’t argue with stats like that. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/22 "2008-07-21T17:30:40Z")
And you can cover a few food groups with one vehicle–whole grain bread (healthful carb), peanut butter or meat or egg (protein), lettuce/tomato/spinach/all-fruit jelly (fruit and veggies). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/23 "2008-07-21T18:11:49Z")
[QUOTE=legalsnugs] I think bread with “slop” in the middle would require a fork. . . . [/QUOTE] Depends on the slop and if the sandwich is the pocket sort. I miss my pocket sandwich maker, it was great for chili sandwiches. Its locking mechanism broke one day and the new machine doesn’t completely seal the pockets. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/24 "2008-07-21T20:13:00Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] And you can cover a few food groups with one vehicle–whole grain bread (healthful carb), peanut butter or meat or egg (protein), lettuce/tomato/spinach/all-fruit jelly (fruit and veggies). [/QUOTE] Add some cheese for dairy and you’ve got your four basic food groups! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/25 "2008-07-21T21:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] They’re easy and fast to make, don’t generally require cooking, are easy to transport and difficult to screw up. [/QUOTE] I agree with all but the last: take a hotdog, add ketchup, instant disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/26 "2008-07-21T21:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=susan] I’m not supposed to eat a lot of bread given my blood sugar issues. Try eating the slop without bread. Not so tidy. [/QUOTE] Try being gluten intolerant and in need of a quick meal…Fast food salads get old amazingly quick. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/27 "2008-07-21T22:11:45Z")
Most places I worked have no dinner that you could eat at if you wanted and when you only get 30 minutes punch out for lunch you ain’t driving for it every day. So microwave hamburger or a sandwich. I’ll choose the sandwich for taste any day over the vending machine microwavables. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/28 "2008-07-22T04:23:16Z")
It’s become quite easy nowadays to find sandwiches in Thailand. Sandwich shops are considered suave and urbane. The sandwich and even bread situation used to be dismal. Thais never could figure out why Westerners were so crazy about bread, because the bread here sucked, even in the five-star hotel buffets. Time and again, I’d be served bread by someone thinking they were scoring BIG points with me, but what they were serving was gummy, yucky, stale, nothing that resembled actual bread. There’s been a big improvement on the bread front in recent years. We even have Subway branches here. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/29 "2008-07-22T14:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=SmackFu] So I think the premise that it’s anglo-saxon is flawed. [/QUOTE] Particularly when you consider the competitors to the sandwich which have emerged from the Sceptered Isle. How about a nice Cornish Pasty, Pork Pie or even a Scotch Egg? Basically on-the-go chow as always been popular, whether it be samosas, spring rolls, sandwiches or whatever. Hot, cold, crispy, soggy, doesn’t really matter as long as you can take it with you. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/30 "2008-07-22T16:14:17Z")
The fourth earl? Hardly. Rabbi Hillel has a much better claim to inventing the sandwich than he does. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/31 "2008-07-22T17:36:57Z")
I think someone “inventing” the sandwich is like Columbus “discovering” America. I refuse to believe that bread and meat had been around and these guys were the first to combine the two. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/32 "2008-07-22T22:18:16Z")
As I always say, if a man can teach a son of a carpenter everything he knew… why couldn’t he invent the sandwich? ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/33 "2008-07-22T22:45:52Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] As I always say, if a man can teach a son of a carpenter everything he knew… why couldn’t he invent the sandwich? [/QUOTE] Who’s to say he didn’t? Remember the bit with the loaves & fishes? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/34 "2008-07-23T07:24:09Z")
I now have an intense desire to go make a fried egg sandwich. Mmmm, sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081/35 "2008-07-23T07:32:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] Depends on the slop and if the sandwich is the pocket sort. I miss my pocket sandwich maker, it was great for chili sandwiches. Its locking mechanism broke one day and the new machine doesn’t completely seal the pockets. [/QUOTE] Slop is “any liquid or semiliquid food that is unappetizing or of poor quality.” I was making a joke. I wouldn’t really eat any kind of slop with a fork or otherwise. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-sandwiches-so-prevelant-choice-or-compromise/457081.md?page=1)