HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR SANGER?
This year marks the 25oth anniversary of that humble comestible – the sandwich.
Or as we know it, the sanger… sanga?
What’s your favourite filling?
Wendy is fond of white bread and butter with (shudder) tinned beetroot and Vegemite.
Caroline says the ultimate comfort food is, again, white bread with peanut butter (and it has to be “squishy”).
The British town of Sandwich is staging a dramatic re-enactment of the moment when the town’s earl was said to have brought the sandwich to England.
According to Wikipedia: The first written usage of the English word appeared in Edward Gibbn’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.
It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of toasted bread, and because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order “the same as Sandwich!”
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 southeastern English port town of Sandwich is also holding a sandwich-making competition and concerts of the bawdy and lively tunes favoured by the earl, who also had a penchant for dressing in Turkish robes.
The current earl will host a huge sandwich lunch in tribute to “the fourth earl of Sandwich who, 250 years ago, had his masterly inspiration in creating the universal fast food the world knows and loves,” according to posters for the event.
Historians are sceptical of the claim that the earl invented the sandwich.
They say it belongs to a long line of bread-based snacks stretching back much further than the 18th century to the ancient Jewish Sage Hillel the Elder who liked to wrap leftovers of the Paschal lamb with bitter herbs in unleavened flat bread.
But no matter, the tale endures and so does our love for the original fast food.
What will you be having in your sandwich today?
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15 Responses to this article
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Elisabeth Wynhausen May 14, 2012
A salad sandwich with LOTS of onion on wholegrain bread. Available only in Australia. Pastrami on rye, properly available only in the Big Bagel. Speaking of which, a poppy bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. In fact almost any sandwich except the one Wendy mentions – white bread, tinned beetroot and Vegemite. There is no place on earth for tinned beetroot except in a salad sandwich.
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Valerie Parv May 14, 2012
I’m glad the Earl of Sandwich won this round. Imagine ordering a Hillel the Elder over the counter? My favourites would be curried egg and lettuce out of sheer nostalgia for school canteen lunches; and brief cheese and lettuce from a wonderful cheese shop in Crows Nest where you chose the exact cheese and they made a sandwich for you, charging for the cheese by weight. Sadly that shop is long gone but the memory lingers on.
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Valerie Parv May 14, 2012
brie cheese, dammit, brie cheese.
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Melissa Hoyer May 14, 2012
Honey and banana on the world’s freshest whitest of white read.
Enough said.
Thanks Wendy . . . now off to buy a loaf!-
Elaine May 14, 2012
Melissa you must try adding cream cheese to the banana and honey….yum
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Dianne May 14, 2012
Old school cheese and vegemite – an all time favourite!
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WENDY GREEN May 14, 2012
Wholemeal bread with tasty cheese, sliced pineapple and grated carrot – oh and lots of black pepper … simply divine!
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Sally May 15, 2012
One of my absolute favorites (especially in summer) below – I call it a “Gado Gado” sanga – it’s basically a peanut butter and salad sandwich. And the ORDER that the ingredients are placed is SO important – and annoys sandwich bar servers when you are directing the making!!:
- Light, soft rye bread
- Peanut butter (thickly spread on first slice of bread)
- Carrot (grated)
- Celery (finely sliced)
- Tomato (finely sliced)
- Lettuce (shredded)
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Avocado (thickly spread on the other slice of bread)
Close sandwich and squish down – yum yum yum!! -
jo May 15, 2012
Crusty white chibata with Turkey, Brie, Cranberry, salad leaves. Or Crusty french bread with cornbeef hot english mustard, vintage cheddar and mayo hmmmmmmmm or on rye toasted
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Jolene May 15, 2012
Banana and bacon between two thick slices of country grain bread. Sweet and salty….drool!
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Mel May 15, 2012
Devon and tomato sauce on white bread with butter
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sam May 15, 2012
A foodie friend once introduced me to my now favouite sandwich. Crusty white bread, lovely ripe tomatoes , basil and a bit of mayo instead of butter. Black peper and Yum
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Carmel May 15, 2012
We were just discussing the tomato sauce sandwiches we used to take for school lunches – memories – maybe not such great ones.
These days: tuna and mayonnaise or tuna, avocado and mayonnaise is a favourite (tinned tuna that is), and I yearn occassionally for a vegemite, or vegemite and cheese sandwich.
I made home made blackberry jam this year following a bumper crop – and doesn’t that make a great sanga on fresh white.
