A sandwich may be one of the most humble foods known to humankind, often slapped together with whatever’s found in the fridge and eaten on the go. These easily customizable eats go by many names depending on their variety — sub, hoagie, roll, gyro, po’ boy, and more — and they’re one of a few foods that span cultures and time. Here are eight facts you may not know about the concoctions we create with two slices of bread.
The Word “Sandwich” Likely Gets Its Name From a Real-Life Royal
John Montagu (1718-1792), the British noble who served as the fourth Earl of Sandwich, was a politician and postmaster. He’s also credited as the inventor of the sandwich. Humans have arguably been combining bread with savory fillings for thousands of years, but Montagu is said to have inspired the dish’s official term. (His family name, meanwhile, comes from a place name that means “sandy harbor.”) One 18th-century account claimed Montagu popularized sandwiches by requesting sliced meat and bread as a meal so that he could continue gambling, though other accounts say the earl likely also consumed sandwiches while working at his desk. With his title used as a description, sandwiches exploded in popularity throughout Europe, soon served to nobility and civilians alike.
Three U.S. Cities Are Named Sandwich
Massachusetts is home to the oldest American city called Sandwich, founded in 1637. The oldest town on Cape Cod — Massachusetts’ history-heavy, hook-shaped peninsula — was named after Sandwich, England. Nearby in New Hampshire, the town of Sandwich got its name in 1763 to honor John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich mentioned above. And the Midwestern town of Sandwich, Illinois, also bears the name. Originally called Almon, the Illinois town’s name was scrapped in the 1850s and eventually switched to Sandwich in honor of John Wentworth — a politician born in Sandwich, New Hampshire — who was responsible for getting the Illinois town a railroad stop.
A Descendant of Paul Revere Invented the Fluffernutter Sandwich
Paul Revere is best known for his patriotic ride during the Revolutionary War, though he’s also the great-great-great-grandfather of Emma Curtis, the Massachusetts woman who invented the fluffernutter sandwich. While Curtis isn’t the original creator of marshmallow creme — the spreadable sweet that contributes the sandwich’s “fluff” — she was known to popularize the product, manufactured by her family, through inventive recipes. Curtis first released the recipe for her peanut butter and marshmallow creme delight in 1918, amid World War I, initially calling it a Liberty sandwich, aka a patriotic way to consume less meat during wartime.
Americans Eat Millions of Sandwiches Each Year
The most popular food served in the U.S. just may be the sandwich. On any given day, 47% of American adults will eat a sandwich, with about half of those served for lunch and a third consumed for dinner. In one year, Americans chow down on an estimated 300 million sandwiches, the most popular including cold cuts. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, meanwhile, account for just 6% of sandwiches consumed by adults.
PB&J Sandwiches Were Once Upper-Class Cuisine
The beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich is now considered kid-approved dining, though it wasn’t always that way. Around 1901, PB&J sandwiches were served in tea rooms frequented by wealthier American patrons. More savory varieties of the sandwich nixed the jelly and paired peanut butter with cheese, lettuce, or Worcestershire sauce. By the 1920s, the invention of commercially sliced bread helped PB&Js become a lunchtime staple for all Americans, particularly schoolchildren.
The World’s Most Expensive Sandwich Includes Edible Gold
Would you pay $214 for a taste of the world’s priciest sandwich? That’s the cost of the record-breaking grilled cheese sandwich at Serendipity 3 in New York City, made with French bread (itself made with Champagne and gold flakes), and thick slices of caciocavallo podolico cheese (a rare type of Italian dairy). Each sandwich is seared using white truffle oil containing gold flakes, plus butter infused with white truffles, with more edible gold applied after cooking. The entire dish is served with a side of lobster tomato bisque.
A Sandwich Helped Detectives Catch a Jewel Thief
In February 2003, burglars robbed the seemingly impenetrable Antwerp Diamond Centre, pilfering $100 million in diamonds, gold, and more from an underground vault. Detectives were left with few leads; the thieves absconded with the security camera footage and left behind few clues, though one — a half-eaten salami sandwich — was later recovered from a nearby site where the crooks attempted to destroy evidence. Detectives were able to make arrests with the help of cellphone records, DNA evidence, and a grocery store receipt found in a suspect’s home that matched the sandwich’s ingredients. However, most of the diamonds stolen in the heist have never been recovered, and police believe accomplices in the crime are still at large.
A Corned Beef Sandwich Was Smuggled Into Space
Astronaut food is the stuff of science — often heavily processed to give it the chance to hold up in space, and sometimes looking less than appetizing. That’s why one astronaut packed his own sandwich and jetted off into space with it. In 1965, NASA pilot John Young hid a corned beef sandwich in his spacesuit pocket prior to the launch of the Gemini III. Nearly halfway through the five-hour flight, Young pulled out the sandwich and offered a bite to mission commander Gus Grissom, though the unfinished sandwich was stowed away after breadcrumbs began to make a mess. Young was reprimanded once back on Earth, and a congressional inquiry took place. A resin-preserved replica of the sandwich now sits at the Grissom Memorial Museum in Mitchell, Indiana.