The sandwich is far older than its name suggests. [uncited] Long before the term existed, people across cultures had discovered the simple pleasure of eating fillings between bread. Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader and rabbi, was active during the end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first century CE, dying around 10 CE. [1] He first suggested eating bitter herbs inside unleavened matzo bread, creating an early recognizable form of a sandwich. [2] During the Middle Ages in Europe, thick slabs of coarse and usually stale bread called 'trenchers' were used as plates, and after a meal, the food-soaked trencher was fed to dogs or beggars. [3] In the 17th century Netherlands, naturalist John Ray observed that in taverns beef hung from the rafters which they cut into thin slices and ate with bread and butter, creating the Dutch belegde broodje (open-faced sandwich). [3] Farm laborers in rural France had been eating meat between sliced bread long before the sandwich had a name. [2]
The word itself, however, owes its origin to one man. John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, lived from 1718 to 1792. [4] According to the popular legend, John Montagu would order his valet to bring him roast beef between two pieces of toasted bread during long sessions of card games at public gambling houses. [3] The sandwich allowed the Earl to continue gambling while eating without the need for a fork and without getting his cards greasy from eating meat with his bare hands. [3] The first known use of the word 'sandwich' comes from the diary of English historian Edward Gibbon on November 24, 1762, where he wrote about seeing men eating 'a bit of cold meat, or a Sandwich.' [5]
Once named, the sandwich rapidly gained popularity. The first edition of Charlotte Mason's 'The Lady's Assistant' was published in 1773, with the second edition published in 1775. [6] The sandwich's popularity in England increased dramatically during the nineteenth century, when at least seventy street vendors were selling ham sandwiches in London by 1850. [3] The first documented sandwich recipe in an American cookbook appeared in 1837 in Eliza Leslie's 'Directions for Cookery'. [7] During the 1900s, the sandwich became a staple in the American diet because it was portable for both schoolchildren and the American workforce, especially after bakeshops started selling pre-cut bread slices. [8] While the club sandwich originated in the late 19th century (1889-1894), the Reuben sandwich was created in the early 20th century, either around 1914 in New York or 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. [9] The Wall Street Journal has described the sandwich as Britain's 'biggest contribution to gastronomy.' [3]
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder
[2] https://www.pbs.org/food/stories/history-sandwich
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich
[5] https://www.history.com/articles/sandwich-inventor-john-montagu-earl-of-sandwich
[6] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9069547-the-lady-s-assistant-for-regulating-and-supplying-the-table
[7] https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html
[8] https://www.700southdeli.com/the-history-of-the-sandwich-simple-but-complicated
[9] https://colonydiner.com/blog/resources/origins-of-reuben-sandwich
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