
How the sandwich consumed Britain - irb
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-consumed-britain
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VeejayRampay
As a Frenchman, I have to say it: I was in England two years ago, got those
sandwiches around the cities I visited (London, Margate, Brighton) in
bookshops, train stations, street vendors and to be honest, they're very good.

Usually heavy on the sauce and easy ingredients like bacon, eggs, mayonnaise,
but still, props to the UK for producing quality sandwiches like that on a
such a HUGE scale.

~~~
diminish
I had some very fresh and tasty sandwiches I cafes in Dublin Ireland.

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matthewowen
As a Brit now living in the US, I can't help but feel like the popularity of
packaged sandwiches in the UK is largely driven by the fact that people in
England are terrible at sandwiches.

A ham and cheese sandwich in the UK is usually a thin layer of ham, a thin
layer of cheese, and some butter.

In the US, it's thick wodges of both, plus tomato and lettuce. It's just a
more compelling option, and a small sad thing in a cardboard box pales in
comparison.

~~~
balabaster
I'm a Brit living in Canada and I concur, in general the British are
_terrible_ at sandwiches. However, I would say that outside of Subway and
arguably Mr. Sub, North Americans aren't a whole world better at making them.

I'm a firm believer that if you ain't putting any love into making the
sandwich, it's not worth eating. The only exception where you need simple is
butter and salt and vinegar crisps. Everything else requires lettuce, tomato
and cucumber, salt and pepper and depending on the meat a proper condiment for
that meat - Ham & Mustard; Turkey & Cranberry Sauce; Chicken & Mayonnaise;
Beef & Horseradish Sauce.

~~~
mc32
Italian delis run by Italians often have very good and tasty sandwiches some
are Americanized (pastrami on rye) but you find great Italian sausages and
peppers, Italian meatballs, as well as traditional American Reuben sandwiches.
But you gotta find the places that make their stuff in-house, rather than buy
wholesale from some provisioner.

Razzano's in Glen Cove, is a good example, if you're on long island, NY.
Molinari in SF is okay.

~~~
wj
Bay Cities in Santa Monica and Gioia's in St. Louis are two of my favorite.

One thing I have found, and hadn't realized until I had left LA, is that the
quality of the bread can really elevate the quality of a sandwich.

~~~
balabaster
The quality of bread is _everything_. Portuguese buns are the best, put them
in the oven to crisp them off at 350 for 10 minutes. You get the light fluffy
inside and a nice crispy outside. One thing Americans aren't great at is your
definition of "crusty" bread. Crusty is supposed to mean that when you bite
into it, the outer crust crunches before you get to the soft fluffy bread
inside. If it doesn't crunch like chips (crisps) crunch, it's not crusty, it's
just _bread_.

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whoopdedo

        There is an art to the business of making sandwiches which it is given
        to few ever to find the time to explore in depth. It is a simple
        task, but the opportunities for satisfaction are many and profound.
    

Reading this in 1992 I was entertained by Douglas Adams's whimsical
storytelling talent. But now with this bit of historical context I see there
was also, as in many of his stories, a social commentary which had passed me
by as an American.

Of course over here we have restaurants such as McDonald's and White Castle.
Did those chains not have a presence in the UK in 1980? Or do other countries
make a distinction between beef patties on a bun and sliced bread sandwiches?

~~~
Nursie
We do make a distinction. While a burger is clearly meat between two bits of
bread, it's not usually considered a sandwich.

McD's was certainly not widespread until later in the 80s, IIRC, and White
Castle has never had a presence here AFAIK.

~~~
mrgordon
White Castle also isn't present across most of America either. Subway is the
largest fast food chain in the world so it would be more interesting to hear
what sort of presence they have.

~~~
Lio
Subway are everywhere in the UK. Having colonised most town centres they’re
now popping up in garage forcourts (service stations).

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dageshi
One of my small pleasures in life is timing the daily visit to my local
supermarket just when all the sandwhiches have been marked down from £3 to 75p
to clear them.

You'd think you'd get tired of the "all day breakfast triple", but nope!

~~~
PaulRobinson
What time of day does that happen in your neck of the woods? Asking for a
friend...

~~~
dageshi
Typically around 14:30 onwards, essentially any sandwich that's gonna expire
that day and didn't shift by 2:30 usually ends up discounted by then.

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mattnewport
One of the things I noticed moving to Canada was that every drug store (rough
Boots equivalent) and grocery store did not have a vast selection of packaged
sandwiches. Having lived off them for work lunches for years I was initially
at a bit of a loss for what to eat.

I do sometimes wonder when visiting the UK what cultural difference accounts
for the relative lack of popularity of such a wildly successful product in
Britain here in Canada. Having not eaten bread for many years now though it's
largely an academic question these days.

I never understood Subway here, just the smell walking past one on the street
makes me feel slightly queasy.

~~~
fredley
When I first started traveling under my own steam around Europe, it took me a
while to realise that sandwiches, which seem so obvious as to be universal,
are such a British thing. Wandering around a foreign city, expecting to be
able to just grab a sandwich from almost anywhere and continue sightseeing,
only to discover that sandwiches (at that time) just didn't exist was a
jarring experience.

~~~
stevekemp
Same here - I moved from Scotland to Finland and I still catch myself thinking
"I'll pop into this corner shop for a sandwich".

Larger grocery stores do indeed sell sandwiches, but the selection is very
small, and they're just not quite "right".

Fast food is easy, but sometimes you just want to sit down drink a decent cup
of tea & have a sandwich..

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muxator
Maybe it's my cultural heritage, but for me a sandwich - at least the one I
eat on a regular basis - has to be made from fresh ingredients.

I am not talking about the taste: I am sure you can make anything
asymptotically tasteful, but I do not want to eat a sandwich that resists
unaltered for weeks.

~~~
lozenge
With the volumes they are pushing, there is no chance that a sandwich has been
on the shelf for weeks.

~~~
muxator
Maybe you are being ironic. My point was about chemicals.

~~~
dageshi
I think most supermarket sandwiches are on the shelves for about 2 days max.
On the second day if they've not sold then they cut the price drastically to
sell them.

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Nursie
I love a good sandwich, but would hesitate to call any of the sandwiches from
pre-packed places good. Or from Greggs or Pret for that matter.

And I do sometimes eat sandwiches for dinner - on fresh bread of my choosing,
with piles of fillings I like, nothing pre-prepared comes close.

That's not to say I object to a packet of sandwiches ow and again, but it
rapidly loses its charm if that's all there is near work. I am lucky enough to
have street food markets nearby in my current role.

~~~
valuearb
I love sandwiches and like the idea of packaged sandwiches, but unfortunately
packaged sandwiches in the US tend to be soggy, and that ruins them for me.
Usually the bread, but sometimes the meat and cheese is even wet and that
makes me queasy.

I wonder if the Brit's have figured out something that the local marts in the
US haven't?

~~~
Nursie
Actually it's in the article - there are tomato varities used specifically
because they leal less water, and the sandwich makers talk about "barriers"
like butter and mayo to keep the bread from getting wet.

So short answer - yes, they have figured it out.

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efrafa
It might be unpopular opinion but I totally hate those prepacked triangle
sandwitches. Mainly because bread is so bad. When I first time moved to
Ireland I was astonished how much people eat them and consider them a regular
lunch.

~~~
OnlyLys
I've lived in London for a few years and recently went on a trip to Dublin. I
found there to be more sandwich shops (and for some reason doughnut shops)
there. While London has better food overall, there is no doubt that Dubliners
know how to make better sandwiches. Even a dingy looking sandwich place near a
bus stop made sandwiches that were a step above anything I have ever had in
London.

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marcosscriven
Having recently been diagnosed with coeliac, one of the things I’m really
missing is being able to grab a tasty sandwich for lunch. Sometimes there are
gluten free alternatives, but generally the texture is terrible.

~~~
jaskerr
Amen, brother, sing it!

Therein lies the problem: the texture of GF breads at room temp. No matter the
incantations, or the application of chemical ingredients, no one has conquered
the problem of dry, crumbly GF bread. The only solution seems to be the
application of heat, whether it be by oven or microwave.

Of course, asking your sandwich vendor to 'wave your sandwich for 45 seconds
is to be met with a blank stare.

Oh, well.

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JdeBP
Whether the packaged sandwich industry is setting its sights on dinner, it has
long since set its sights on _Christmas_ dinner. A work colleague this year
inspired me to update one of my Frequently Given Answers, which I first put up
ten years ago. The trend was already observable back then.

* [http://jdebp.eu./FGA/christmas-sandwich/](http://jdebp.eu./FGA/christmas-sandwich/)

~~~
PaulRobinson
Well, they're not going after Christmas Dinner.

It has been a tradition all my life, and in the lives of every Brit I know
that on Boxing Day (which is what we call the day after Christmas Day for
those of you who aren't British), the family will have sandwiches using
leftovers from the Christmas Dinner.

This turkey, cranberry, pigs in blankets and vegetable concoction is a very,
very fond memory from my childhood. I'm instantly transported back to a very
happy time in my life whenever I eat it.

It's not surprising then that retailers have tried to mimic it in the month or
two before Christmas, and that I will readily give them money for this brief
glimpse of happiness in the middle of an otherwise miserable, boring or
frustrating average working day.

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tomjen3
Having visited Britain, this was about the only food you could buy and consume
that felt at least somewhat British.

The joke is that food in Britain is terrible, but I am at a loss to find any
food that is British, other than Fish and Chips, breakfast and, well, the
sandwich. On the other hand I can list many foods that are French, foods that
are uniquely Danish, foods that are German (although I hope never again to
have to eat saur-kraut).

~~~
balabaster
We have a whole bunch, I won't cover Chicken Tikka Masala or Madras because it
could be argued that we've really just appropriated them due to our love of
Indian food - and they really are delicious.

\- Shepherd's Pie

\- Ploughmans Lunch

\- Roast lamb and Yorkshire Pudding

\- Toad in the Hole

\- Fish & Chips

\- Cornish Pasty

\- Pork Pies

\- Meat Pie

\- Beef Wellington

\- Spotted Dick

\- Treacle Pudding

\- Sticky Toffee Pudding

\- Christmas Pudding

\- Trifle

\- Scones

I'm sure there are stacks more, these are just the ones I can list without
stopping to think.

~~~
PaulRobinson
You're forgetting all the offal based dishes (black pudding, white pudding,
liver, etc.), the various ways we will repackage pork (scratchings, sausage
rolls, etc.) and the regional specialities (black peas, jellied eels, etc.)

That's just for starters.

P.S. - it's Roast _Beef_ with Yorkshire Pudding. Roast Lamb is lovely with
some mint sauce, and you can put a Yorkshire pudding next to it, sure, but
most people would consider it more traditional to use beef.

~~~
balabaster
Sure, whatever, I'll concede that :P However, we're not exactly renowned for
our huge beef cow raising operations. In fact we were a laughing stock for
quite a while because we couldn't eat beef on the bone because of the whole
BSE thing. As a Brit in Canada, I'm still regularly reminded of this, despite
it being sorted for almost 3 years - mostly as banter, but still.

~~~
PaulRobinson
The French nickname 'rosbif' for the English goes back to the Napoleonic wars
thanks to our historic association with it.

According to the RSPCA, the number of beef breeding cows in the UK was around
1.6 million in 2013, which is one for every 17 households. I'd say that's
pretty respectable, albeit about quarter the rate of the US.

~~~
gerdesj
We taught the French how to cook beef (OK sort of).

Originally, the French boiled their beef but during a siege of Paris by
British troops, they noticed that our troops cooked theirs over the
fire/griddle. The rest is history.

The word beef is derived from boeuf. Biftek is derived from beef steak. So you
have a borrow word that has really done the rounds!

~~~
alblue
In most languages, the name of the meat is the same (or similar to) the animal
it comes from.

In English, the name of the meat was derived from the French aristocrats who
were running the country hundreds of years ago, and while peasants referred to
animals by name, the aristocrats referred to the food by the name they knew it
as - which is why in English we have two names for these things, but other
languages generally only have one.

~~~
balabaster
It's funny, since I turned to farming, I find myself referring to the meat I
eat as the name of the animal rather than those you see on the packaging in
the grocery store. It started off as humour and kind of stuck. Cowburger, pig
chops... oddly I still call chicken and turkey the same thing :P

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Humphrey
Interestingly, you still can't buy a pre-made sandwich from a supermarket in
Australia. We have Subways and sandwiches at cafe's and corner stores, but
actually barely any "ready to eat" meals at our supermarkets.

I wonder whether we have regulations in place that prevent this, just like we
do with alcohol? Or is it that the Aussie market is different? Or is there an
un-tapped market ready for the taking?

~~~
contingencies
Insufficient population density, small market, high average distance to
market, low "eat out" frequency (but increasing), short commercial hours,
arguably higher freshness / quality standards.

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ivanbakel
The way the company representitives talked about "breaking into dinner" was
almost dystopic. How could you be proud to think of disrupting an evening meal
with a convenience item for your own profit? It's a damning sign of the way
the workforce is made to get by if a need for quick food manages to take over
even the time away from the office.

~~~
elsurudo
No kidding, and I am surprised this is the only comment on here pointing this
out. This article is really quite sad, except for the small historical
tidbits.

It really reminded me of the sad state of affairs that capitalism has brought
us to: we are all tugging at the cart in different directions, not really
caring which direction it ends up going in. As long as it is _our_ direction –
as long as it is us making the money.

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cletus
I lived in the UK for several years and lived on sandwiches for lunch at work,
primarily from Pret a Manger (BLT and Thai Chicken mainly).

But I also visited particularly several times and as much as I enjoyed my
lunch sandwiches the street vendor baguettes were in a whole different league.

~~~
walshemj
Yes going to a Proper cafe run by what looks like extras from EastEnders is
both cheaper and a better experience.

If you see Coppers (policemen) taking there lunch break there you know its
going to be OK

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sjclemmy
1\. I love ‘shop bought’ sandwiches.

2\. My wife used to work a night shift at a sandwich factory when she was a
student.

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walshemj
Probably also due to the reduction in staff canteens as Thatcherism over took
the UK

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jankotek
I like optimism in the article, but raise of sandwich is nothing to celebrate.

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not_that_noob
We figured it out many decades earlier - we call our ubiquitous convenient
sandwiches ‘hamburgers’.

