The Oxford dictionary defines sandwiches as “an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with a filling between them, eaten as a light meal.” One day, when I was eating my Nutella and chaat masala sandwich (don't ask please), I realized that I didn't know where sandwiches come from. So, I decided to find out.
It started with this guy called John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was an addicted gambler and card player, often spending hours at the gambling table. He would not even come to meals, which greatly worried the staff of his house. Finally, his butler came up with an idea. He took a piece of meat and some cut vegetables and put them between two slices of toasted bread and gave it in one hand for the Earl to eat. This was the invention of the sandwich.
During the onset of the Industrial Revolution in England, when affordable, quick, and simple meals were in demand, this new dish was viewed as a gambling and drinking snack and slipped into the clubs of the English nobility, where it expanded further to the lower classes.
According to culinary historians, however, there is significant debate about when the sandwich was invented. The contemporary notion of a sandwich made of bread pieces may be traced back to Europe in the 18th century. However, the usage of some sort of bread to lie beneath and over other foods, or to scoop up, enclose, or wrap other foods, predated the 18th century and can be seen in a variety of far older cultures around the world.
Hillel the Elder, an ancient Jewish rabbi, is supposed to have wrapped flesh from the Paschal lamb and bitter herbs in soft matzah - flat, unleavened bread - at Passover, much like a modern flatbread wrap. Flatbreads may be found in a variety of Western and Northern African cuisines, including Ethiopia, Morocco and India.
In this way, sandwiches have shown their presence in political, trade, economical and domestic matters and have influenced the food industry astronomically. To end, I quote Thom Yorke, “If we replaced all of our guns with chicken sandwiches it would end all war immediately.”
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