United Sandwiches of America

[Fat Guy]

Heroes, hoagies, grinders, subs, whatever you call them, are not between or atop slices of bread. They're on or in rolls.

For comparison, Webster's says "two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between" or "one slice of bread covered with food."

[munchymom]

If you can't pick it up, it's not a sandwich. Hoagies, subs, rolls, hot dogs and hamburgers are in. I'm willing to listen to arguments about pitas, wraps, and even burritos. Hot, stacked, open-faced things with a slice of bread, roast turkey or beef, gravy and mashed potatoes, are right out. Soup in bread bowl... who do you think you're kidding?

[Fat Guy]

I think the notion of an open-face sandwich is pretty thoroughly accepted in the language, both in common (restaurant menus, everyday consciousness) and in formal usage (newspapers, magazines, books, dictionaries).

[percival]

A roll is a slice of bread. It's a loaf that's sliced almost in half, then folded.

And lots of food can be picked up, in "wraps," and no one would consider them sandwiches, like the examples I listed. Sushi, egg rolls, won tons etc.

[Fat Guy]

That actually sounds low to me... I'd guess that I probably eat 4-5 sandwiches per week, and I feel like I see folks around me eating lots too. But then, Philly is a really good sandwich town, so maybe we're outliers.

I agree. The numbers sound low. Some googling revealed an alternate statistic, apparently from the Wheat Foods Council: "Americans eat more than 45 billion sandwiches per year, with the average American consuming 193 sandwiches annually" (link).

[percival]

That's a bit off. 365 days a year, 193 sammiches... I eat at most 60 a year, and that's high. Someone out there must be eating 2-3 sandwiches a day.

It links a 2002 statement. 45 billion divided by the US population per the 2000 census (281 million) = 160 per, including babies and old geezers with no teeth... So 193 doesn't even work at all. And even 160 seems high. Three sandwiches a week? Removing those who just can't eat sandwiches, let's round up and say five sandwiches a week for those who actually eat sandwiches -- immigrants don't eat that many sandwiches, I'd imagine. Do you and everyone at home and at work eat a sandwich every weekday?

They could be counting sandwiches made, not sold, or gross raw wheat flour divided by a percent they assume is being turned into sandwiches... I worked in the electronics biz and the marketing departments always shoved out garbage numbers. "$1B in sales on launch day!" = we pre-sold X units to retailers who will sell possibly/eventually at MSRP to equal $1B. "1B units shipped in the first quarter!" = we manufactured the units and got rid of them, god knows if they sell or end up in an e-waste dump.

[nakji]

The convenience of the sandwich is definitely one big point in favor, but sandwiches are also really good at least potentially. And we do sandwiches very well in America. Most of my sandwich experiences in other nations have revealed limited if not impoverished sandwich cultures. Whereas here, sure, you have many of the expected crap sandwiches consisting of lunch meat on squishy white bread, but you also have an incredibly diverse culture of sandwich artistry cold and hot, high and low. Porchetta, banh mi, lobster roll, PB&J, ham and cheese, egg salad, cuban sandwich, BLT, Italian-American deli (salume of all kinds), Jewish-American deli (pastrami, chopped liver, bagel with lox and cream cheese), nouvelle chef-driven deli ('wichcraft's marinated white anchovies), relatively high-quality chains (Panera, Quizno's), croque monsieur, Monte Cristo, muffuletta, cheesesteak, barbecue, Reuben, panini, burgers, sliders, meatball parm, hot open-faced, club, tuna melt, gyros, bacon-and-egg, churasco, po' boy, falafel, shawarma, Chick-Fil-A, McRib, Egg McMuffin, Filet O' Fish. That's just a starting point. As you read that list, if you're someone who eats sandwiches, you'll have dozens to add ("Hey you forgot grilled cheese!") and lots of questions ("Do wraps count?") . And then if you circle back to the convenience factor you have situations where you have a stand-alone good food product and the sandwich format is probably the best way to convey it as a portable lunch. For example earlier this week I braised a brisket. My son wanted brisket in his school lunch on Wednesday. I couldn't really think of a better way to get brisket into a school lunch so I put some cold sliced brisket on good bread with Russian dressing. He liked it so much he requested it again the next day. And he has asked that I make it again this morning.

Bolding mine.

While sandwiches in America are indeed fine exemplar of the art of bread and filling, I can't help but come to the defense of other nation's sandwiches. Many of the sandwiches on your list if not originated come wholly from countries that are not America.

I know a lot of people in Hanoi who would be pissed off if America started claiming banh mi as an American sandwich, for starters. And the croque monsieur? Falafel? Shawarma? Clearly the richness of the sandwich culture in America comes from people bringing their fine native sandwiches along with them when they immigrate. I assume that American culture, which appreciates a fast portable lunch propagates (and perhaps refines?) these sandwiches to a larger audience of people always looking for something they can eat hunched over the car steering wheel.

Sandwiches that are not widely popular yet in America but should be:

The Korean potatowich - Three layers of bread; toasted. One layer spread with bacon-flecked mashed potato, the other with a fried egg omelette flecked with carrot and green pepper. Perfect hangover food.

The UK Chip butty - french fries on a bap or bread. Brown sauce optional.

The Cheese-n'chutney - also a UK favourite. Perhaps vestiges of this tradition have resulted in some people in America enjoying jam on a slice of American cheese? Best tried with good cheddar and small-bit Branston Pickle.

That thing they do in France which is basically dark chocolate jammed in a decent baguette. Except - well, you'd need to find decent chocolate to pull it off on a broad scale.

The Japanese tonkatsu-sando - Fried pork cutlet, kewpie mayo, brown sauce and soft, fluffy, cottony white bread. NOT a bun. Maybe a slice of lettuce. Cut in perfect squares. Followed by strawberry and whipped cream sandwiches for dessert.

Note that two of these put potato on a sandwich, a sadly underused sandwich ingredient by my reckoning.

[suzilightning]

that's very,very low for our household. because he is called into impromptu meetings johnnybird gets sandwiches in his lunch everyday. he can grab one between meetings or munch on them while working at his desk. currently on the menu are: chicken with avocado, turkey with cranberry chutney, meatloaf and meatball sliders. for lunch at work to day it was tuna salad on freshly baked bread.

[ScottyBoy]

Sandwiches are my favorite. I just hosted a party where I baked the bread, cured/roasted the turkey, grew the tomatoes/lettuce and made the mustard/mayo/cheese. People often ask what I eat on a typical day, sando everyday!

[Fat Guy]

Percival: if you count breakfast sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs, I know plenty of people who are 2-sandwich-a-day consumers. At least according to this source, the hot dog number alone is 20 billion (variants of this number are repeated all over the internet; I'm not sure of its actual veracity, though), leading me to think that maybe the people who came up with the 45 billion number weren't even going down the hot-dog path. I don't know. Certainly you have some people in the population eating zero sandwiches. But there could easily be just as many doing 10 a week.

Nakji: I think the American sandwich culture is part adopted and part original. Banh mi would be a clear case of adoption. The Reuben is a clear case of an American original. Then there are gray areas, such as the hamburger and the hot dog. Some would argue that these have foreign roots, but they have been so thoroughly integrated into and built upon by Americans that all the world acknowledges them as American. But the reason I said "limited if not impoverished" was because those have been the two options I've seen: 1- limited, or 2- impoverished. So, for example, Vietnam has banh mi. That's a great sandwich. But does Vietnamese sandwich culture go much deeper than that? I think it's fair to say that Vietnamese sandwich culture is limited compared to the incredible diversity of American sandwich culture. And I think there are plenty of countries where the sandwich culture is downright impoverished.

[nakji]

I think the American sandwich culture is part adopted and part original. Banh mi would be a clear case of adoption. The Reuben is a clear case of an American original. Then there are gray areas, such as the hamburger and the hot dog. Some would argue that these have foreign roots, but they have been so thoroughly integrated into and built upon by Americans that all the world acknowledges them as American. But the reason I said "limited if not impoverished" was because those have been the two options I've seen: 1- limited, or 2- impoverished. So, for example, Vietnam has banh mi. That's a great sandwich. But does Vietnamese sandwich culture go much deeper than that? I think it's fair to say that Vietnamese sandwich culture is limited compared to the incredible diversity of American sandwich culture. And I think there are plenty of countries where the sandwich culture is downright impoverished.

I agree, although what I wanted to highlight, I guess, is that the diversity of sandwiches in America is related to the diversity of peoples there, not simply that Americans are better at coming up with sandwich ideas. If some other countries pursued similar immigration patterns, their sandwich diversity and culture would rise accordingly, I would think.

Or would they? Look at the UK, which also has diverse immigration and a native sandwich tradition. They, arguably, have a poorer sandwich culture than the US. But - then, the UK has a lot fewer people overall than the US. So again, perhaps it's just a size thing.

Of course, I can't just say that larger countries are by definition going to have large and rich sandwich cultures, or I'd be rolling in sandwiches in China, and that's clearly not the case.

[nolnacs]

Percival: if you count breakfast sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs, I know plenty of people who are 2-sandwich-a-day consumers. At least according to this source, the hot dog number alone is 20 billion (variants of this number are repeated all over the internet; I'm not sure of its actual veracity, though), leading me to think that maybe the people who came up with the 45 billion number weren't even going down the hot-dog path. I don't know. Certainly you have some people in the population eating zero sandwiches. But there could easily be just as many doing 10 a week.

Plus you have to factor in that many people eat more than one sandwich in a meal. For instance, eating two hot dogs is common and sliders have popped up on menus everywhere.

[emilyr]

I'm going to have to play Devil's advocate for wraps counting as sandwiches. I think what a lot places are using now are flatbreads as opposed to tortillas and tortilla-like wrappers, so you do get the bread in there. Plus, as opposed nachos or tacos or potstickers, they often contain TRADITIONAL sandwich fixings. Many major sandwich chains (Quiznos, Subway) are now offering their regular sandwich toppings on flatbreads. I tend to like these, because I want the sandwich fillings to meld with the bread. I can't stand a super crusty sandwich bread that overpowers the flavor of the fillings. I also don't like the fillings soaking through and obliterating the bread. I think flatbreads are the antidote to both of these problems.

Edited September 27, 2010 by emilyr (log)