Today is National Sandwich Day. It is (apparently) observed every November 3. The sandwich is thought to be the namesake of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The claim is that he was the inventor of the sandwich, one of America’s most popular lunch items.
There is a belief that Lord Sandwich was a conversant gambler and did not want to take the time to have a meal during his long hours playing at the card table. When hungry, he would ask his servants to bring him slices of meat between two slices of bread. The practice become a habit well-known to his gambling friends. They soon began to order “the same as Sandwich”, and from this, the sandwich was born.
There is another form of this practical eating style, popular in the West Virginia mines. It is called a pepperoni roll. It is a representation of Italian-American identity in West Virginia. Often, this is simply pepperoni rolled into plain, white bread. An easy hand-held food engineered for on-the-job consumption by miners.
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where copper mining was once important, has a similar item called pasties (pronounced PASS-TEE, not PAY-STEE), a meat and potato stuffed roll. Pasties are thought to have their origin in the tin mines of Cornwall, England.
In this time of gluten-free and grain brain and whole wheat half-truths, the sandwich has taken a bit of a backseat. Bread has become a bad guy. However, we cannot deny the love of the sandwich. Countless mornings I remember making my boys peanut butter and jelly (or brown sugar) sandwiches for their lunch bags. It is still a favorite of Andrew’s. And how easily does “soup and sandwich” roll off of our tongues? The sandwich definitely has its place in food history. Always will.
Sandwich is a village in Kent, England. I am glad that Mr. Montagu was not living in some other village at that time such as: Nether Wallop, Thrumpton, Mudford Sock, Affpuddle, Over Peover, or Blubberhouses (names of real villages.)
It could sound really weird to order a hot thrumpton, extra saucy, an over peover and a mudford sock to go. Yummy.
Anyway, sorry about your gambling habit, Earl of Sandwich, but thanks for the genius idea.
Out of necessity comes creativity.