How the sandwich consumed Britain
November 24, 2017 12:31 AM Subscribe
The invention of the chilled packaged sandwich, an accessory of modern British life which is so influential, so multifarious and so close to hand that you are probably eating one right now, took place exactly 37 years ago. Like many things to do with the sandwich, this might seem, at first glance, to be improbable. But it is true. In the spring of 1980, Marks & Spencer, the nation’s most powerful department store, began selling packaged sandwiches out on the shop floor. Nothing terribly fancy. Salmon and cucumber. Egg and cress. Triangles of white bread in plastic cartons, in the food aisles, along with everything else. Prices started at 43p.
I would so murder about every sandwich they had listed in that article. As I am not able to do so, I currently have locally sourced bacon frying to be placed in the middle of a croissant/flatbread hybrid for an early morning snack.
posted by Samizdata at 1:02 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Samizdata at 1:02 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I am so happy that M&S left their French food stores open when they closed the clothing part outside of the UK, Paris is obviously great for baguettes but most of the time I'm actually craving a British sandwich.
posted by ellieBOA at 1:18 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 1:18 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
“When you talk to people, if they are honest, a large number of people eat the exact same sandwich every single day, all their life,” he said. Even as it facilitates a faster and more solitary life, the sandwich provides a kind of security. We seek it out because we have enough to contend with as it is. “People don’t want to be disappointed,” said Whiteside. And in a way, that is the very British secret of a very British industry. The sandwich is a national pastime of modest expectations, remorselessly fulfilled’
Ouch.
But not inaccurate. Even in the part of London I work in, which is bursting with alternative options on every corner, I wonder what proportion of orders go with the basic sandwiches (and of those, how many with a good old ham and cheese variant ...)
posted by AW74 at 1:20 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
Ouch.
But not inaccurate. Even in the part of London I work in, which is bursting with alternative options on every corner, I wonder what proportion of orders go with the basic sandwiches (and of those, how many with a good old ham and cheese variant ...)
posted by AW74 at 1:20 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
The ready and ubiquitous availability of these sandwiches is one of the things I miss most about the UK, no joke.
posted by Automocar at 1:43 AM on November 24, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by Automocar at 1:43 AM on November 24, 2017 [14 favorites]
Can’t beat a breakfast triple pack.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:50 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Happy Dave at 1:50 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Exhibit A: the Tesco Just Ham Sandwich comprising bread, ham, and nothing else, yet supposedly "developed with care by dedicated sandwich chefs". 'Nothing terribly fancy' is still very much an option.
The "dedicated sandwhich chefs" must be the people who put together the ham (sorry, the reformed ham) sandwich from this impressive list of ingredients:
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:51 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
The "dedicated sandwhich chefs" must be the people who put together the ham (sorry, the reformed ham) sandwich from this impressive list of ingredients:
Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Reformed Ham with Added Water (33%), Water, Butter (Milk), Yeast, Salt, Spirit Vinegar, Palm Oil, Emulsifiers (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Di-Acetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Wheat Gluten, Soya Flour, Rapeseed Oil, Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid), Reformed Ham with Added Water contains: Pork, Water, Salt, Dextrose, Stabiliser (Sodium Triphosphate), Antioxidant (Sodium Ascorbate), Preservative (Sodium Nitrite)
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:51 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I can't read about this without thinking of Woody Allen's intellectual biography of the Earl of Sandwich:
1745: After four years of frenzied labor, he is convinced he is on the threshold of success. He exhibits before his peers two slices of turkey with a slice of bread in the middle. His work is rejected by all but David Hume, who senses the imminence of something great and encourages him. Heartened by the philosopher’s friendship, he returns to work with renewed vigor...
1750: In the spring, he exhibits and demonstrates three consecutive slices of ham stacked on one another; this arouses some interest, mostly in intellectual circles, but the general public remains unmoved. Three slices of bread on top of one another add to his reputation, and while a mature style is not yet evident, he is sent for by Voltaire.
posted by Mocata at 2:23 AM on November 24, 2017 [17 favorites]
1745: After four years of frenzied labor, he is convinced he is on the threshold of success. He exhibits before his peers two slices of turkey with a slice of bread in the middle. His work is rejected by all but David Hume, who senses the imminence of something great and encourages him. Heartened by the philosopher’s friendship, he returns to work with renewed vigor...
1750: In the spring, he exhibits and demonstrates three consecutive slices of ham stacked on one another; this arouses some interest, mostly in intellectual circles, but the general public remains unmoved. Three slices of bread on top of one another add to his reputation, and while a mature style is not yet evident, he is sent for by Voltaire.
posted by Mocata at 2:23 AM on November 24, 2017 [17 favorites]
Mocata, why is this so funny? I can‘t stop laughing!
posted by Omnomnom at 2:33 AM on November 24, 2017
posted by Omnomnom at 2:33 AM on November 24, 2017
My God, the Woody Allen bit is quoted in Sam Knight's (excellent) piece! And he includes this real-life detail:
Isabella “Mrs” Beeton arguably designed the first avant-garde sandwich, in 1861, with her “Toast Sandwich” – a piece of toast, seasoned with salt and pepper, between two pieces of bread...
posted by Mocata at 2:36 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Isabella “Mrs” Beeton arguably designed the first avant-garde sandwich, in 1861, with her “Toast Sandwich” – a piece of toast, seasoned with salt and pepper, between two pieces of bread...
posted by Mocata at 2:36 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
When we travel in the UK, the humble pre-packaged sandwich has saved us from hanger many times, as well as being relatively cheap if we need a quick lunch on the go. I follow a lot of UK vegan Instagram feeds so I am delighted to learn that those particular options have expanded for me!
posted by Kitteh at 2:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 2:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Great read; kudos to writer Sam Knight.
Now off to make a Marmite sandwich.
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:59 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Now off to make a Marmite sandwich.
posted by Mister Bijou at 2:59 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also in the UK, the Royal Society of Chemistry revealed the "toast sandwich" to be the cheapest meal. It is what it sounds like: a slice of toast sandwiched between two slices of bread.
I hope I have left you with more questions than answers. (Why the Royal Society of Chemistry? Why not toast the other two slices as well, or two toast on the outside with untoasted in the middle? In what situation does someone have access to a toaster but not any non-toast sandwich filling? Isn't it even cheaper but equally "nutritious" to just eat three untoasted slices of bread?)
posted by easternblot at 3:01 AM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
I hope I have left you with more questions than answers. (Why the Royal Society of Chemistry? Why not toast the other two slices as well, or two toast on the outside with untoasted in the middle? In what situation does someone have access to a toaster but not any non-toast sandwich filling? Isn't it even cheaper but equally "nutritious" to just eat three untoasted slices of bread?)
posted by easternblot at 3:01 AM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
I would rather eat just about anything else while traveling, whereas my spouse defaults to soggy prepackaged sandwiches while traveling.
posted by goatdog at 3:14 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by goatdog at 3:14 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is one of the things I just don't understand about Britain. Those bloody sandwiches are everywhere. And they're universally crap - terrible bread, soft, soggy, awful. And usually dramatically overpriced for what they are. Like disappointment made manifest as a foodstuff-adjacent item.
posted by Dysk at 3:21 AM on November 24, 2017 [17 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 3:21 AM on November 24, 2017 [17 favorites]
Dysk, you do know you are supposed to buy the nearby cheese & onion or salt & vinegar crisps and add them into the sandwich don't you?
posted by biffa at 3:26 AM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by biffa at 3:26 AM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
Why would I want to torture myself further? Honestly, I'd rather eat plain, dry bread. Except even acceptably decent bread is like hen's teeth over here, too.
posted by Dysk at 3:39 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 3:39 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
impressive list of ingredients
Wheat flour sold in the UK is required by law to contain calcium carbonate, iron, niacin and thiamin. See schedule I of the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998. Legislation along these lines has been in force since 1943: because white bread makes up a large part of some people's diets, it's important that it contain these vitamins and minerals that would otherwise be removed in the flour refining process.
posted by cyanistes at 3:51 AM on November 24, 2017 [13 favorites]
Wheat flour sold in the UK is required by law to contain calcium carbonate, iron, niacin and thiamin. See schedule I of the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998. Legislation along these lines has been in force since 1943: because white bread makes up a large part of some people's diets, it's important that it contain these vitamins and minerals that would otherwise be removed in the flour refining process.
posted by cyanistes at 3:51 AM on November 24, 2017 [13 favorites]
These pre-packaged sandwiches sound horrible, like something out of a vending machine or an Amtrak snack bar in the 80s.
posted by octothorpe at 3:59 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 3:59 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Britons, at least in Yorkshire where I live, have a (to me) inexplicable desire for their bread to be soft and spongy and yielding. No crispness to crust; no chewiness to the centre. One can, of course, find Decent Bread (sourdough, shattering crust, large (but not too large) holes inside, a pleasant bounciness) if one looks, but the default bread is not much better than Wonderbread.
I have no idea why.
posted by Fraxas at 4:20 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have no idea why.
posted by Fraxas at 4:20 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
octothorpe, you aren't even a little bit wrong. Those things that are universally derided in the rest of the world as an example of the abject failure of a product, those are the things Britons have a love affair with.
posted by Dysk at 4:35 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Dysk at 4:35 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
i am here for a cheese & onion sandwich when you are drunk tho
posted by Kitteh at 4:49 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 4:49 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Over the years, Chahar has tried to get unemployed British people to join his sandwich lines. “They come here. They do half day. They never come back,” he told me. (Adelie has also made similar, largely unsuccessful attempts with ex-convicts.) The work is too cold, and too repetitive. Pay at the Wembley factory starts at £7.50 an hour. As a result, most sandwich factories have relied on immigrant labour for at least a decade
Capitalist success story turns out to be exploitative? How can this be?!
posted by uncleozzy at 5:07 AM on November 24, 2017 [8 favorites]
Capitalist success story turns out to be exploitative? How can this be?!
posted by uncleozzy at 5:07 AM on November 24, 2017 [8 favorites]
Also apparently responsible for the decline of quality in English stadiums.
(while googling for a source, it suggested "roy keane prawn sandwich critique", which I imagine is a youtube channel of Keano sitting on a chair in a smoking jacket trying all varieties of prawn sandwiches in the UK)
posted by lmfsilva at 5:11 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
(while googling for a source, it suggested "roy keane prawn sandwich critique", which I imagine is a youtube channel of Keano sitting on a chair in a smoking jacket trying all varieties of prawn sandwiches in the UK)
posted by lmfsilva at 5:11 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
That is a point, though, in a slightly round about way: this is the country of the culinary glories that are the (savoury) pie, the pasty, and hell, Staffordshire oatcakes and a bunch of other local hot bready convenience foods that I'm not as familiar with, no doubt.
And yet, it's the fucking cotton-wool sandwich everywhere. If you are given an alternative, it's bloody Ginster's, as if the British are trying to convince or prove to you that it isn't possible to do better.
posted by Dysk at 5:19 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
And yet, it's the fucking cotton-wool sandwich everywhere. If you are given an alternative, it's bloody Ginster's, as if the British are trying to convince or prove to you that it isn't possible to do better.
posted by Dysk at 5:19 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have no idea why.
When I lived in Bethnal Green, we had a Turkish showarma place just down the corner, for 3 pounds (? maybe? it was a long time ago.. but really cheap I remember) you got a massive portion of meat with as much fresh onion, tomato, lettuce, and sauce as could be crammed into a fresh hot pita bread. Almost every day I ate those, they were glorious.
Why a crappy factory sandwich? Does not compute!
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
When I lived in Bethnal Green, we had a Turkish showarma place just down the corner, for 3 pounds (? maybe? it was a long time ago.. but really cheap I remember) you got a massive portion of meat with as much fresh onion, tomato, lettuce, and sauce as could be crammed into a fresh hot pita bread. Almost every day I ate those, they were glorious.
Why a crappy factory sandwich? Does not compute!
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
Those crazy British, eh? Who would have thought that a country of 65 million might have its own idiosyncratic food preferences?
posted by cyanistes at 5:57 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by cyanistes at 5:57 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I like the British sandwiches, mostly because they are so often simple. If I want a sandwich here, there will always be pesto and tomato and bell peppers and chilimayo and who knows what else in it. Probably to cover the bad quality of the produce. Back in the day when industrially made sandwiches were rare, I would go to the baker next to school and have a sandwich made on whole grain rye, with just butter, ham, cheese and cress. I still miss those.
posted by mumimor at 6:16 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 6:16 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
The quality of the produce in British sandwiches is certainly not better than it is in Danish ones, despite the lack of more complex flavours to cover that fact up. They tend to charge you about half as much over here though, so you'll generally feel marginally less insulted at least.
posted by Dysk at 6:21 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 6:21 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
When I first moved to the UK the prevalence of sandwiches available was something that I noticed and had to get used to. Not just the ubiquitousness, but the variety of flavours! Specific offerings that I found particularly British-y:
Cheese & Onion: On a scale of Britishness, this ranks very highly to me. And biffa is right, they are the BEST with salt & vinegar crisps.
Cheese & Pickled Onion/Ploughman's: Rustic and filling. I don't like it when they fancy it up with tomatoes and lettuce. I don't know why pickled onion is not a thing in America given how popular caramelised onions are. They're like the yin/yang of onion toppings.
Egg & Cress: The cress makes it British, otherwise its just an egg mayo. Usually one of the cheapest you can get but I'd rather have a cheese & onion.
Coronation Chicken: Undeniably British given the filling's ties with the monarch. I personally like it when it's cheap and simple without fancy additions like raisins and almond slivers.
Prawn mayo: This is very British to me because I doubt Americans would put up with such ingredients sitting on a shelf all day in questionable establishments like petrol stations and pharmacies.
Ham & Piccalilli: I like saying piccalilli. What a fun and tasty word! Piccalilli! I like this sandwich when it's fancy - thick slices of honey cooked ham, piccalilli with a variety of veg and a bright yellow dressing.
Then there's the whole sub-genre of toasties but I'm not as familiar with them as I didn't grow up in Britain with a nan who had a toastie maker.
posted by like_neon at 6:37 AM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
Cheese & Onion: On a scale of Britishness, this ranks very highly to me. And biffa is right, they are the BEST with salt & vinegar crisps.
Cheese & Pickled Onion/Ploughman's: Rustic and filling. I don't like it when they fancy it up with tomatoes and lettuce. I don't know why pickled onion is not a thing in America given how popular caramelised onions are. They're like the yin/yang of onion toppings.
Egg & Cress: The cress makes it British, otherwise its just an egg mayo. Usually one of the cheapest you can get but I'd rather have a cheese & onion.
Coronation Chicken: Undeniably British given the filling's ties with the monarch. I personally like it when it's cheap and simple without fancy additions like raisins and almond slivers.
Prawn mayo: This is very British to me because I doubt Americans would put up with such ingredients sitting on a shelf all day in questionable establishments like petrol stations and pharmacies.
Ham & Piccalilli: I like saying piccalilli. What a fun and tasty word! Piccalilli! I like this sandwich when it's fancy - thick slices of honey cooked ham, piccalilli with a variety of veg and a bright yellow dressing.
Then there's the whole sub-genre of toasties but I'm not as familiar with them as I didn't grow up in Britain with a nan who had a toastie maker.
posted by like_neon at 6:37 AM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
Prawn mayo: This is very British to me because I doubt Americans would put up with such ingredients sitting on a shelf all day
Er, in a fridge, where the fuck are you buying room-temperature prawns from?
A personal favourite is chicken, bacon, and mayo, which goes very well with salt & vinegar McCoys and a Coke.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
Er, in a fridge, where the fuck are you buying room-temperature prawns from?
A personal favourite is chicken, bacon, and mayo, which goes very well with salt & vinegar McCoys and a Coke.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
I still have fond memories of a class trip to London in 1986 where I discovered the coleslaw and cheese sandwich, a combination which informs my salad and sandwich choices to this day. Although right now I am craving a Branston Pickle and Cheddar on sourdough.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by warriorqueen at 7:11 AM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
You can't talk about British sandwiches without mention of Gerald Ratner and M&S prawn sandwiches.
Other examples of "doing a Ratner".
posted by humph at 7:56 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Other examples of "doing a Ratner".
posted by humph at 7:56 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Cress is watercress, I am nearly positive.
Also, as a vegetarian, I just loved having convenient edible food on my visits to England. My fave is actually cheese and tomato [read: tomahto] pickle, which is something I haven't found here, although I'm sure I could order a jar online.
Packaged sandwiches in the u.s. almost always contain meat, or they are eggsalad, which I don't quite trust...
posted by allthinky at 8:12 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Also, as a vegetarian, I just loved having convenient edible food on my visits to England. My fave is actually cheese and tomato [read: tomahto] pickle, which is something I haven't found here, although I'm sure I could order a jar online.
Packaged sandwiches in the u.s. almost always contain meat, or they are eggsalad, which I don't quite trust...
posted by allthinky at 8:12 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm just really bothered that something that happened in 1980 was an important historical moment from forty years ago. Goodbye youth.
posted by mecran01 at 8:13 AM on November 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by mecran01 at 8:13 AM on November 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
And yet, it's the fucking cotton-wool sandwich everywhere.
Pre-packaged sandwiches are limited to the bread that can survive in that (mass produced) environment - that is uniform, consistent and easily put into automated machines. So it is ubiquitous in the pre-packaged sandwiches of a certain type. I have eaten from probably scores of sandwich shops all over the UK and only rarely had to choose that sort of bread. There are also pre-packaged baguette stuff (produced on a smaller scale) and this is available pretty much everywhere.
The problem is with you and your sandwich sourcing, not with some perceived 'the british only eat wonderbread' nonsense.
The best sandwiches are from the high street small (usually local) stores that make the sandwiches on the spot for you - think the mechanics of Subway, but with actual real food, non-chain (or small chain) and with actual tasty fillings. So, not at all like Subway, other than you pick bread and filling, I guess.
posted by Brockles at 8:14 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
Pre-packaged sandwiches are limited to the bread that can survive in that (mass produced) environment - that is uniform, consistent and easily put into automated machines. So it is ubiquitous in the pre-packaged sandwiches of a certain type. I have eaten from probably scores of sandwich shops all over the UK and only rarely had to choose that sort of bread. There are also pre-packaged baguette stuff (produced on a smaller scale) and this is available pretty much everywhere.
The problem is with you and your sandwich sourcing, not with some perceived 'the british only eat wonderbread' nonsense.
The best sandwiches are from the high street small (usually local) stores that make the sandwiches on the spot for you - think the mechanics of Subway, but with actual real food, non-chain (or small chain) and with actual tasty fillings. So, not at all like Subway, other than you pick bread and filling, I guess.
posted by Brockles at 8:14 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
Cress is not watercress. I think this is the right plant, it's eaten as shoots that look like this. Growing cress from seed is a thing small kids do because you just need to sprinkle it on damp kitchen towel.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:15 AM on November 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:15 AM on November 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
In post Brexit Britain, sandwich eat you
posted by crocomancer at 8:31 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by crocomancer at 8:31 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I lived in Bethnal Green, we had a Turkish showarma place just down the corner, for 3 pounds (? maybe? it was a long time ago.. but really cheap I remember) you got a massive portion of meat with as much fresh onion, tomato, lettuce, and sauce as could be crammed into a fresh hot pita bread. Almost every day I ate those, they were glorious.
Shush, you. Not an option for some of us, and WE have to deal with our stomachs' sadness NOT you.
posted by Samizdata at 8:31 AM on November 24, 2017
Shush, you. Not an option for some of us, and WE have to deal with our stomachs' sadness NOT you.
posted by Samizdata at 8:31 AM on November 24, 2017
Cress is not watercress.
Seconded. Different thing.
posted by Brockles at 8:45 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Seconded. Different thing.
posted by Brockles at 8:45 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, in the bad old days: Sandwiches for sale. London, 1972.
Please tell me that is not a customer-accessible shelf
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:53 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Please tell me that is not a customer-accessible shelf
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:53 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Cress is not watercress.
Here's me been walking around for decades thinking it was. And it wasn't/isn't. Glad to get that cleared up before I die. Thanks!
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:31 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Here's me been walking around for decades thinking it was. And it wasn't/isn't. Glad to get that cleared up before I die. Thanks!
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:31 AM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Cress looks like mustard sprouts. Didn't know the difference either.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:36 AM on November 24, 2017
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:36 AM on November 24, 2017
To be honest, I'd stick with watercress. Cress is virtually tasteless (NO JOKES ABOUT BRITISH FOOD PLZ).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:38 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:38 AM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
Please tell me that is not a customer-accessible shelf
I've just come up with a use for libraries' old card catalogs.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I've just come up with a use for libraries' old card catalogs.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
The best sandwiches are from the high street small (usually local) stores that make the sandwiches on the spot for you
Which are nothing like as ubiquitous as the prepackaged bollocks (and several of the sandwich shops in my town give you the choice of white or wholewheat cotton wool, and no option for what I would consider proper bread). And the prepackaged baguette things are just long-form cotton wool - different shape, very similar bread.
posted by Dysk at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2017
Which are nothing like as ubiquitous as the prepackaged bollocks (and several of the sandwich shops in my town give you the choice of white or wholewheat cotton wool, and no option for what I would consider proper bread). And the prepackaged baguette things are just long-form cotton wool - different shape, very similar bread.
posted by Dysk at 9:44 AM on November 24, 2017
I remember eating a prepackaged cheese and pickle sandwich I'd gotten from a nearby cart, while sitting on a thousand-year-old Monk's tomb at Westminster Abbey, and wondering if that was ever going to not sound weird.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:34 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:34 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
No love for the chip (french fry) sandwich, or "chip buttie" in the vernacular? Might just be a Scottish thing, and possibly no more in its native land as I learned it from my immigrant parents who left in the mid-60s.
Mock you might(*), but warm chips with salt on buttered bread is the perfect starch bomb required after a night out boozing.
(*) And you probably should
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:36 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mock you might(*), but warm chips with salt on buttered bread is the perfect starch bomb required after a night out boozing.
(*) And you probably should
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:36 AM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
After reading this thread, Douglas Adams' quote makes much more sense:
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do.-- So Long And Thanks For All The Fish
'Make 'em dry,' is the instruction buried somewhere in the collective national consciousness, 'make 'em rubbery. If you have to keep the buggers fresh, do it by washing 'em once a week.'
It is by eating sandwiches in pubs on Saturday lunchtimes that the British seek to atone for whatever their national sins have been. They're not altogether clear what those sins are, and don't want to know either. Sins are not the sort of things one wants to know about. But whatever their sins are they are amply atoned for by the sandwiches they make themselves eat.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:52 AM on November 24, 2017 [7 favorites]
The rest of the passage, for the sake of completeness - and besides, it's just funny:
If there is anything worse than the sandwiches, it is the sausages which sit next to them. Joyless tubes, full of gristle, floating in a sea of something hot and sad, stuck with a plastic pin in the shape of a chef's hat: a memorial, one feels, for some chef who hated the world, and died, forgotten and alone among his cats on a back stair in Stepney.posted by Greg_Ace at 11:53 AM on November 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
The sausages are for the ones who know what their sins are and wish to atone for something specific.
So would the British sandwich packet (I really love this phrasing when I come across it in British writing) be equivalent to like a 7-11 sandwich in the US? Or more like a Starbucks sandwich?
posted by tatiana wishbone at 12:01 PM on November 24, 2017
posted by tatiana wishbone at 12:01 PM on November 24, 2017
I don't visit 7-11s very often, but you don't really see pre-made sandwiches in the US. Salads aren't too hard to find and sushi at fancy groceries. I think the culture of having a thousand choices makes pre-made sandwiches not viable.
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:31 PM on November 24, 2017
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:31 PM on November 24, 2017
No love for the chip (french fry) sandwich, or "chip buttie" in the vernacular?
We’re talking pre-packaged sandwiches, as in supermarkets or Pret A Manger or Eat etc. I understand why this might sound like the kind of time-expired crap you would buy from a machine, but trust me, some are really good. You have Pret in New York now.
(Dysk’s beloved nanny choked to death on a Pret Chicken Caesar baguette - just saying)
posted by Segundus at 12:36 PM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
We’re talking pre-packaged sandwiches, as in supermarkets or Pret A Manger or Eat etc. I understand why this might sound like the kind of time-expired crap you would buy from a machine, but trust me, some are really good. You have Pret in New York now.
(Dysk’s beloved nanny choked to death on a Pret Chicken Caesar baguette - just saying)
posted by Segundus at 12:36 PM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
I see pre-made U.S. sandwiches all of the time in convenience stores and refrigerated vending machines. Unless you want to call a hot dog a sandwich, they're usually *very* depressing and lack vegetables. I tried to heat one once since there were no lettuce/dressings to complicate the matter and the "cheese" turned into a flour based slime.
posted by Selena777 at 12:38 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Selena777 at 12:38 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
Smoked ham and mustard sandwich, ready salted crisps (three of which are inserted into each sandwich half, broken and tessellated as required to fit nicely), and a small plastic bottle of orange juice- 5x per week from the Tesco near my office. £3 and delicious. The massive wodge of packaging rubbish I’m left with every day has started to make me realise I need to cut it out. I could buy the ham and buy or make the bread but it’s just not the same.
posted by cilantro at 12:49 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by cilantro at 12:49 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
tatiana wishbone, both. You have your suspicious, cardboardy things from low-end vendors (cheap supermarkets, corner shops, very unpleasant petrol stations, vending machines if you're really unlucky). These probably come in a more rigid plastic packet and are limp, soggy and maybe a touch stale if you have a very bad day. Might come in chicken salad, cheese ploughmans and tuna mayo fillings.
Moving on, then you hit Greggs, average supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury). These are generally edible, wider range with a few posher styles thrown in (brie and cranberry is on the shelves right now for Christmas, or a New Yorker, or fancier things). There will be some 'healthier' reduced-calorie options and one vegan choice or two. Boots, as mentioned in the article, is a drug store that sells sandwiches in this kind of range as well.
Past that you have slightly fancy ranges in M&S and Waitrose, both supermarkets, that have some tasty and '''gourmet''' options (while these are 'party platters', the fillings are what you'll find in store - smoked salmon and cream cheese, beef and horseradish). You'll find gluten free and vegan options here.
Then higher priced are Starbucks, Costa, Nero -- coffee shops that are overpriced but occasionally convenient.
Pret a Manger as in the article sells fresher sandwiches than the others and has a more quality image, and prices to match.
There is the occasional very strange aim to make eg a lasagne sandwich, or a gumbo sandwich, but these tend to quietly fail as well they should.
The best sandwich I ever had was either a Jamie Oliver sandwich with cured meat and parmesan - divine! - or a three-cheese toastie from a little independent place in Islington. I think a lot about that toastie...
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 12:51 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Moving on, then you hit Greggs, average supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury). These are generally edible, wider range with a few posher styles thrown in (brie and cranberry is on the shelves right now for Christmas, or a New Yorker, or fancier things). There will be some 'healthier' reduced-calorie options and one vegan choice or two. Boots, as mentioned in the article, is a drug store that sells sandwiches in this kind of range as well.
Past that you have slightly fancy ranges in M&S and Waitrose, both supermarkets, that have some tasty and '''gourmet''' options (while these are 'party platters', the fillings are what you'll find in store - smoked salmon and cream cheese, beef and horseradish). You'll find gluten free and vegan options here.
Then higher priced are Starbucks, Costa, Nero -- coffee shops that are overpriced but occasionally convenient.
Pret a Manger as in the article sells fresher sandwiches than the others and has a more quality image, and prices to match.
There is the occasional very strange aim to make eg a lasagne sandwich, or a gumbo sandwich, but these tend to quietly fail as well they should.
The best sandwich I ever had was either a Jamie Oliver sandwich with cured meat and parmesan - divine! - or a three-cheese toastie from a little independent place in Islington. I think a lot about that toastie...
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 12:51 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am not understanding this hate for the ordinary sandwich bread. I'm having trouble finding a place to eat that gives me bread where each tough, rubbery bite will part from the central chunk without a considerable fight - it's like biting into a tyre. Yes, I do mean ciabattas, bagels, paninis, french bread and all those. I mean obviously a freshly-baked soft roll is a thing of beauty, but how often do you get those in a little Yorkshire town?
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 1:13 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 1:13 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Pret crossed the pond a while ago.
posted by brujita at 1:32 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 1:32 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have visited England once, back in October 2002, to visit a Canadian friend who was living there. Early one evening after being out sight seeing all day, I stopped at a grocery store in Oxford to get a few things. As I was checking out, I saw the cashier putting my few purchases in three bags, and then idly stared off through the window while she finished bagging. Then, when she was finished and I saw three bags lying on the conveyor belt, I picked them up and walked out of the store with them.
It wasn't until I was most of the way back to my friend's house that I realized the cashier had put one of those three bags into one of the remaining two, and because I had scooped up three, I was carrying two grocery bags that were mine and one that was not. The one that wasn't mine contained a sandwich and a bag of chips. I stopped in the cobblestone street and looked back the way I'd come, half-considering going back and half-expecting a hue and cry. It was such a long way back to the store and I was so tired and it was raining (like it did the whole week) and I figured the person who had bought the sandwich and chips would be long gone, so I decided not to go back. My friend thought it hilarious that the contraband was a sandwich and chips, because, as she assured me, that is the quintessential English lunch. I thought she'd laugh out the other side of her mouth when the police kicked down the front door in the middle of the night.
I took the sandwich and chips with me the next day when I took a day trip to Bath and ate them for my lunch while on the train. They were pretty good, but to this day I'm afraid that if I ever return to England I'll be arrested as soon as my feet touch the tarmac at Heathrow.
Guard your precious sandwiches, Brits, or some hapless Canadian will make off with them.
posted by orange swan at 2:19 PM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
It wasn't until I was most of the way back to my friend's house that I realized the cashier had put one of those three bags into one of the remaining two, and because I had scooped up three, I was carrying two grocery bags that were mine and one that was not. The one that wasn't mine contained a sandwich and a bag of chips. I stopped in the cobblestone street and looked back the way I'd come, half-considering going back and half-expecting a hue and cry. It was such a long way back to the store and I was so tired and it was raining (like it did the whole week) and I figured the person who had bought the sandwich and chips would be long gone, so I decided not to go back. My friend thought it hilarious that the contraband was a sandwich and chips, because, as she assured me, that is the quintessential English lunch. I thought she'd laugh out the other side of her mouth when the police kicked down the front door in the middle of the night.
I took the sandwich and chips with me the next day when I took a day trip to Bath and ate them for my lunch while on the train. They were pretty good, but to this day I'm afraid that if I ever return to England I'll be arrested as soon as my feet touch the tarmac at Heathrow.
Guard your precious sandwiches, Brits, or some hapless Canadian will make off with them.
posted by orange swan at 2:19 PM on November 24, 2017 [11 favorites]
“I’ve had a shit morning. I’ve fallen out with my boss. I’ve had a fucking horrible journey in. A poxy lettuce-and-whatever concoction in a plastic bowl is not going to do it for me. I want a cup of tea, a chocolate biscuit and I actually want to cry. I am going out for a fucking sandwich.”
QFT
posted by Grandysaur at 2:20 PM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
QFT
posted by Grandysaur at 2:20 PM on November 24, 2017 [6 favorites]
I don't visit 7-11s very often, but you don't really see pre-made sandwiches in the US. Salads aren't too hard to find and sushi at fancy groceries. I think the culture of having a thousand choices makes pre-made sandwiches not viable.
Apart from 7-11s, neighborhood markets, gas stations, hospital vending machines, delicatessens, starbucks and job-site food trucks will frequently have pre-made sandwiches. Pre-made sandwiches are definitely a thing found in the U.S.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:06 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
Apart from 7-11s, neighborhood markets, gas stations, hospital vending machines, delicatessens, starbucks and job-site food trucks will frequently have pre-made sandwiches. Pre-made sandwiches are definitely a thing found in the U.S.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:06 PM on November 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
(NO JOKES ABOUT BRITISH FOOD PLZ).
Who's joking!? This is all dire, serious business! Just like the food!
try the sandwiches! They've been here all week!
posted by loquacious at 5:15 PM on November 24, 2017
Who's joking!? This is all dire, serious business! Just like the food!
try the sandwiches! They've been here all week!
posted by loquacious at 5:15 PM on November 24, 2017
the bottom of a sandwich box, known as a skillet
Intriguingly, 'skillet' seems to be used in several ways unrelated to the cooking pan. The OED has a 19th century citation for it as
posted by zamboni at 5:15 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
Intriguingly, 'skillet' seems to be used in several ways unrelated to the cooking pan. The OED has a 19th century citation for it as
the wooden strips of which matchboxes are made, and 20th century citations
a piece of scored timber rotarily cut into veneers which forms part of the finished punnetand
flattened out matchboxes. Cursory googling for modern usage suggests it's also a packaging industry term for the flat cardboard assembly that is folded and glued into a box. Maybe the meaning has drifted from
wood strip that's assembled into a box, to
thing you make into packaging, to
outer packaging?
posted by zamboni at 5:15 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I remember eating a prepackaged cheese and pickle sandwich I'd gotten from a nearby cart, while sitting on a thousand-year-old Monk's tomb at Westminster Abbey, and wondering if that was ever going to not sound weird.
To him? Probably not.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:31 PM on November 24, 2017
To him? Probably not.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:31 PM on November 24, 2017
Pre-made sandwiches are definitely a thing found in the U.S.
Yep. Despite the abysmal selection of said sandwiches (and basically anything savoury or non-sugary crap) in the US, they are certainly widely available. It's definitely a different level of sandwich in the US (ie lower) but they are not at all hard to find.
posted by Brockles at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yep. Despite the abysmal selection of said sandwiches (and basically anything savoury or non-sugary crap) in the US, they are certainly widely available. It's definitely a different level of sandwich in the US (ie lower) but they are not at all hard to find.
posted by Brockles at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I went to London this fall for work and felt on the brink of illness the whole week, these packaged sandwiches were a godsend: reasonable nutrition, no risky ingredients, enough places to buy them that you never needed to really detour, easy to eat in a hotel room...
I now wonder if my manager thought I didn't know about my per diem, but, no, I just didn't feel like going out / sitting upright any longer than I needed to each day.
As for packaged sandwiches in the states -- they always seem less trustworthy, kind of dry but with condensation on the inside of the packaging all the same...
posted by batter_my_heart at 7:31 PM on November 24, 2017
I now wonder if my manager thought I didn't know about my per diem, but, no, I just didn't feel like going out / sitting upright any longer than I needed to each day.
As for packaged sandwiches in the states -- they always seem less trustworthy, kind of dry but with condensation on the inside of the packaging all the same...
posted by batter_my_heart at 7:31 PM on November 24, 2017
I see prepared sandwiches ain the US at Walgreens in the city center all the time. Tuna, egg salad, veggie with hummus, ham and cheese... They have wraps, too. Much the same, although you can usually find wheat bread.
posted by suelac at 8:19 PM on November 24, 2017
posted by suelac at 8:19 PM on November 24, 2017
(NO JOKES ABOUT BRITISH FOOD PLZ)
I was only in England for a few weeks, but I can honestly say I enjoyed every single meal from the cheese toastie and chips at the bakery by our underground stop on arrival day to the full English breakfast at Heathrow on the way home. And all the HobNobs and fizzy lemonade in between!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:22 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I was only in England for a few weeks, but I can honestly say I enjoyed every single meal from the cheese toastie and chips at the bakery by our underground stop on arrival day to the full English breakfast at Heathrow on the way home. And all the HobNobs and fizzy lemonade in between!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:22 PM on November 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
I think it‘s hilarious when Americans try to put down the UK for their bread. Pot, meat kettle...
posted by The Toad at 9:45 PM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by The Toad at 9:45 PM on November 24, 2017 [4 favorites]
Remember, also, that for a brief happy period, Arthur Dent was The Sandwich Maker on Lamuella. He made sandwiches of Perfectly Normal Beasts. (Mostly Harmless)
Fascinating article, but the person who came up with "day part" should be precariously suspended over a moat full of alligators (or crocodiles, your choice) from the morning day part until the evening day part.
posted by bryon at 1:11 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fascinating article, but the person who came up with "day part" should be precariously suspended over a moat full of alligators (or crocodiles, your choice) from the morning day part until the evening day part.
posted by bryon at 1:11 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
My mom picked up one of these at a tour of Downton Abbey. She got food poisoning that lasted for over a week, including through her trip to Paris. That sandwich was the last solid food she ate the whole trip, and there is no love lost for prepackaged sandwiches in our family anymore. Egg mayo on a shelf, indeed.
posted by buzzkillington at 5:51 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by buzzkillington at 5:51 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
They used to haul us all down to the library in elementary school to do singing class, and Sandwiches was one of the songs I memorized before I realized I could sneak off and read.
posted by aniola at 7:03 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 7:03 AM on November 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is so interesting. Great, great piece of food writing.
I find myself most struck by the differences between American and British sandwich culture. In the US, we have the same work pressures, the same pace of life, the same desire for comfort. Yet the sandwich became a thing here much earlier - in the 1940s-60s, the "sandwich cart" trolled the halls of corporate enterprises, with similar concoctions like roast beef, egg salad, ham & cheese - and at the same time, Americans also had access to a sandwich culture that arrived much earlier and embedded itself among the working class and was very much immigrant-Italian in origin: the sub. Variously termed, of course, hoagie, grinder, hero, po-boy, etc. Italian bread filled with various savory options. This was working people's food for some time before the 80s. I'd submit that there was no gap in the ready-to-eat food market in the US in the 80s in the same way there was in Britain precisely because working-class and office-worker hand food had been available here for a long time already. I remember pulling wax-paper chicken salads out of the Automat myself when I was a wee girl in the early 70s.
posted by Miko at 8:01 PM on November 25, 2017
I find myself most struck by the differences between American and British sandwich culture. In the US, we have the same work pressures, the same pace of life, the same desire for comfort. Yet the sandwich became a thing here much earlier - in the 1940s-60s, the "sandwich cart" trolled the halls of corporate enterprises, with similar concoctions like roast beef, egg salad, ham & cheese - and at the same time, Americans also had access to a sandwich culture that arrived much earlier and embedded itself among the working class and was very much immigrant-Italian in origin: the sub. Variously termed, of course, hoagie, grinder, hero, po-boy, etc. Italian bread filled with various savory options. This was working people's food for some time before the 80s. I'd submit that there was no gap in the ready-to-eat food market in the US in the 80s in the same way there was in Britain precisely because working-class and office-worker hand food had been available here for a long time already. I remember pulling wax-paper chicken salads out of the Automat myself when I was a wee girl in the early 70s.
posted by Miko at 8:01 PM on November 25, 2017
I now understand better the scenes in various UK sitcoms/dramas where the characters are handing around sandwiches in little plastic triangle containers. As Time Goes By is the one I remember in particular, with characters choosing between two apparently dodgy filling options. It always seemed a bit odd to me -- US white collar workers will sometimes eat sandwiches, but not with the same level of uniformity of packaging and ubiquity. It's more something you bring from home, or more recently a Subway sandwich.
posted by tavella at 1:54 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 1:54 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
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Meanwhile, in the bad old days: Sandwiches for sale. London, 1972.
posted by misteraitch at 12:55 AM on November 24, 2017 [23 favorites]