Sandwich

A sandwich is a food item consisting of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of food, typically taken to work or school, or picnics to be eaten as part of a packed lunch. They generally contain a combination of salad vegetables, meat, cheese, and a variety of sauces. The bread can be used as is, or it can be coated with butter, oil, mustard or other condiments to enhance flavor and texture. They are widely sold in restaurants and cafes.

History

Bread has been eaten with other food since its creation in Neolithic times. For example, the ancient Jewish sage Hillel the Elder is said to have wrapped meat from the Paschal lamb and bitter herbs between two pieces of matzah (or flat, unleavened bread) during Passover, but the concept of a sandwich (as opposed to a wrap) is more recent. During the Middle Ages, thick slabs of coarse and usually stale bread, called "trenchers", were used as plates. After a meal, the food-soaked trencher was fed to a dog or to beggars, or eaten by the diner. Trenchers were as much the harbingers of open-face sandwiches as they were of disposable dishware. The immediate cultural precursor with a direct connection to the English sandwich was to be found in the Netherlands of the 17th century, where the naturalist John Ray observed that in the taverns beef hung from the rafters "which they cut into thin slices and eat with bread and butter laying the slices upon the butter"— explanatory specifications that reveal the Dutch belegde broodje was as yet unfamiliar in England.

If it was initially perceived as food men shared while gaming and drinking at night, the sandwich slowly began appearing in polite society as a late-night meal among the aristocracy. The sandwich's popularity in Spain and England increased dramatically during the 19th century, when the rise of an industrial society and the working classes made fast, portable, and inexpensive meals essential.

It was at the same time that the sandwich finally began to appear outside of Europe. In the United States, the sandwich was first promoted as an elaborate meal at supper. By the early 20th century, as bread became a staple of the American diet, the sandwich became the same kind of popular, quick meal as was widespread in the Mediterranean.

Etymology

The first written usage of the English word appeared in Edward Gibbon's journal, in longhand, referring to "bits of cold meat" as a 'Sandwich'. It was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat, although he was neither the inventor nor sustainer of the food. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread, and because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!" It is said that Lord Sandwich was fond of this form of food because it allowed him to continue playing cards, particularly cribbage, while eating without getting his cards greasy from eating meat with his bare hands.

The rumour in its familiar form appeared in Pierre-Jean Grosley's Londres (Neichatel, 1770), translated as A Tour to London 1772; Grosley's impressions had been formed during a year in London, 1765. The sober alternative is provided by Sandwich's biographer, N. A. M. Rodger, who suggests Sandwich's commitments to the navy, to politics and the arts mean the first sandwich was more likely to have been consumed at his desk.

Usage

The term sandwich is occasionally used (informally) in reference to open-faced sandwiches; these normally consist of a single slice of bread topped with meat, salad vegetables, and various condiments, and differs from a normal sandwich in having a single slice of bread instead of two, with toppings instead of a filling. The open-faced sandwich also has a history differing from that of the true sandwich, having originated between the 6th and 16th centuries, with stale slices of bread used as plates called "Trenchers" (whereas its relative, the modern sandwich, traces its roots to the Earl of Sandwich instead), In the United States, a court in Boston, Massachusetts ruled that "sandwich" includes at least two slices of bread. and "under this definition and as dictated by common sense, this court finds that the term "sandwich" is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans." The issue was whether a restaurant which sold burritos could move into a shopping center where another restaurant had a no-compete clause in its lease prohibiting other "sandwich" shops.

The verb to sandwich has the meaning to position anything between two other things of a different character, or to place different elements alternately, and the noun has other meanings derived from this more general definition.

The word "butty" is often used in Northern areas of the United Kingdom as a synonym for "sandwich," particularly in the name of certain kinds of sandwiches such as a chip butty, bacon butty, or sausage butty. The Southern areas of the UK use the word "sarnie" in the same respects.

In September 2009, KFC added a sandwich to its menu that uses slices of chicken in place of bread.

List of regional sandwich styles

Some of these are distinguished primarily by the bread or method of preparation, rather than the filling.

Bacon sandwich—Primarily popular in the UK. Sandwich made from strips of bacon.
Banh Mi—Vietnam
Barros Jarpa—Chile, melted cheese and fried ham
Barros Luco—Chile, melted cheese and thin fried beef
Bauru—Brazil, melted cheese and roast beef
BLT -UK/USA, bacon, lettuce, and tomato
Breakfast Roll UK & Ireland
Bun Kabab—Pakistan
Butterbrot—Germany, Graubrot (grey bread)
Caprese—mozzarella, tomato, fresh basil
Cheesesteak—Philadelphia, sandwich made from strips of steak and cheese, sometimes with peppers and onions
Chimichurris—Dominican Republic, a sandwich made from pork, beef, and sometimes chicken with mayonnaise/ketchup sauce and cabbage.
Chipped ham—USA (Pittsburgh, PA—made popular by the Isaly's Dairy Store chain)
Chip butty—UK, chips
Chivito—Uruguay, steak, ham, and cheese
Choripán—Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, grilled chorizo
Club sandwich—USA primarily, variety of fillings
Crisp sandwich—global, uses crisps/potato chips in situ
Croque-monsieur—France, ham and cheese
Cuban sandwich—Cuba/South Florida, ham, Swiss cheese and roasted pork
Cucumber sandwich—England afternoon tea classic
Dagwood sandwich—USA, distinguished by size more than contents
Döner kebab—Turkey, doner kebab served in pita bread or half of a loaf of bread
Elvis sandwich—USA, fried sandwich containing peanut butter, bananas, and sometimes bacon
Falafel—typically served in pita bread
Fat Sandwich—USA, submarine type sandwich filled with an array of different foods including French fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, jalapeño poppers, and pizza bites.
Fluffernutter, New England variation on peanut butter and jelly
Francesinha—Portugal, made with wet-cured ham, linguiça, other sausages and meat, covered with molten cheese and beer sauce
Grilled cheese sandwich-USA, British Commonwealth (as Cheese Toastie), fried or broiled sandwich consisting of melted cheese between slices of buttered bread.
Gyros-pita or Souvlaki-pita—Greece, meat in pita bread
Hamburger—USA, ground meat patty in a round bun
Hero sandwich—New York, sub
Hoagie—Pennsylvania, South Jersey, Delaware, similar to sub, uses olive oil
Horseshoe sandwich—Springfield, IL, an open sandwich topped with French fries and cheese sauce
Hot Brown—USA (Kentucky)
Hotdog—Sausage in an oblong bun (origins disputed)
Italian beef—thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s
Kummelweck—Buffalo, New York colloquially "beef on weck", roast beef and horseradish on a Kaiser roll topped with pretzel salt and caraway seeds
Manwich—USA, a sandwich characterized by meat that exceeds the size of the bread, usually made with some sort of beef
Melt sandwich, Tuna melt, Patty melt, etc.—filling includes melted cheese
Monte Cristo sandwich—USA, based on fried bread
Montreal Smoked meat—Canada/Quebec
Mother-in-law sandwich—Chicagoland fast food staple that features a Mississippi tamale nestled in a hot dog bun and smothered with chili
Muffuletta—New Orleans, based on Sicilian bread
Panini—Italy, refers to type of bread
Pastrami on rye—Classic of the Jewish deli
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Ploughmans A popular UK sandwich compromising of cheese, pickle, tomato, lettuce and onion
Printzesa-(Princess) Bulgarian. Slice of bread with ground pork/veal, kashkaval, feta or combination and broiled
Po' boy (literally "poor boy")—USA/New Orleans, similar to sub
Porilainen—Finland, a bread with thick slice of sausage
Reuben sandwich—USA, sauerkraut with Swiss cheese and corned beef or pastrami
Roti john—A variation of sandwich that is very popular in Singapore and Malaysia
Sandwich loaf—USA, a large multi-layer sandwich made to look like a cake
Sandwiches de miga—Argentina
Shaobing Youtiao- China
Shawarma—a Middle Eastern-style sandwich usually composed of shaved lamb, goat, and/or turkey, rolled inside a taboon bread.
Slopper-USA, hamburger smothered in red or green chile
Sloppy Joe—USA, based on ground beef and flavorings
Smörgåstårta—Sweden, variety of "sandwich cake"
Steamed Sandwich—USA/Kentucky
Submarine sandwich or sub—USA
Tea sandwich—small sandwiches for afternoon tea
Tramezzino - an Italian take on the tea sandwich
Toasted sandwich
Torta—Mexico
Vada pav—India
Vegemite— A sandwich with butter and vegemite often with slices of cheese.

Translation

The word "Sandwich" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Breton, Danish, German, French, Norwegian (Bokmål), Simple English, Swedish.

Translation(s) in other languages: Anglo-Saxon: Sandwīc (ǣt), Arabic: شطيرة, Spanish: Sándwich, Esperanto: Sandviĉo, Basque: Ogitarteko, Korean: 샌드위치, Croatian: Sendvič, Indonesian: Roti lapis, Icelandic: Samloka, Italian: Sandwich (cucina), Hebrew: כריך, Georgian: სენდვიჩი, Lithuanian: Sumuštinis, Hungarian: Szendvics, Malayalam: സാന്‍ഡ്‌വിച്ച്, Malay: Sandwic, Dutch: Sandwich (gerecht), Japanese: サンドイッチ, Norman: Sannouiche, Polish: Kanapka, Portuguese: Sanduíche, Romanian: Sandviş, Russian: Сандвич, Northern Sami: Vuodjaláibi, Slovenian: Sendvič, Finnish: Voileipä, Thai: แซนวิช, Turkish: Sandviç, Ukrainian: Канапка, Vietnamese: Bánh mì kẹp, Cantonese: 三文治, Chinese: 三明治.