From Ancient Bread to Modern Icon: The History of the Sandwich

Yashvardhan Chaudhry — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 05:36:05 +0000

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

The Office Crisis: How Remote Work Triggered a Commercial Real Estate Reckoning

Yashvardhan Chaudhry — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 05:35:33 +0000

The American office market has undergone a seismic transformation since 2020, driven by the rapid adoption of remote work and compounded by a looming debt crisis that threatens the entire commercial real estate sector. What began as a pandemic-induced exodus has evolved into a structural realignment that is reshaping cities and straining financial systems.

The initial shock was dramatic. Office occupancy in major U.S. markets tumbled by 90 percent from late February to March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced buildings to empty. [1] Though occupancy rates recovered somewhat by the end of 2023, they remained at about half of their pre-pandemic levels. [1] The financial impact was staggering: New York office space alone lost nearly half its value between December 2019 and December 2020. [1]

Remote work policies have proven to be the decisive factor. Office-space demand from 2019 to 2023 fell by about 41 percent for companies requiring workers onsite only one day per week, but grew by 1 percent for those expecting employees four or five days per week. [1] Research shows that a 10 percentage point increase in remote job postings lowers office demand by 3.9–4.9 percentage points. [2] The total decline in commercial office valuation due to remote work is estimated at $484 billion in the short run and $413.44 billion in the long run. [2]

The crisis is unevenly distributed. Approximately 90 percent of all U.S. office vacancies are contained in the bottom 30 percent of buildings by quality, [3] while Class A+ properties have experienced near-full utilization on peak days. [4] Yet the damage is visible in major markets: Manhattan's office vacancy rate roughly doubled from a pre-pandemic low of 8 percent to approximately 16 percent in 2024, [5] while San Francisco's vacancy rate reached 35.4 percent in Q1 2025, with the MidMarket submarket experiencing 45.9 percent vacancy. [6] San Francisco's office market saw close to 1 million square feet of negative absorption in Q1 2025, with large occupiers consolidating or leaving the city. [6]

The debt wall looms larger still. Nearly $1 trillion in commercial real estate loans are scheduled to mature in 2025, nearly triple the 20-year average of $350 billion. [7] In the first quarter of 2025, the total volume of distressed assets reached $116 billion, a 31 percent increase from a year earlier. [7] Office CMBS delinquency rates reached 12.3 percent by January 2026, an all-time high, [8] and more than 50 percent of roughly $100 billion in securitized mortgages coming due in 2026 are considered unlikely to be paid off at maturity. [9] As of February 2026, there were close to $25 billion in CMBS loans already past their maturity date without a formal extension in place, matching levels not seen in the industry in almost 20 years. [9] Lenders have increasingly turned to "extend and pretend" strategies, with loan modifications growing 81.2 percent from January to October 2024. [10] This approach has caused a misallocation of capital that crowded out the origination of new loans, leading to a 4.8 to 5.3 percent drop in commercial real estate loan originations since the first quarter of 2022. [11]

Adaptation is underway. The U.S. office market is expected to experience a net decrease in office supply in 2025 for the first time in at least 25 years, with over 23 million square feet coming off the market through demolition or conversion. [12] Office-to-residential conversions are accelerating, with 55,300 units in the pipeline as of 2024 and 70,700 conversions expected in 2025. [13] In New York City alone, office-to-residential conversion starts more than doubled from 1.6 million square feet in 2023 to 3.3 million square feet in 2024, with 4.1 million square feet commenced through August 2025. [14] New York has enacted a 90 percent property tax exemption for office-to-residential conversion properties with at least 25 percent of units set aside for affordable housing. [15] Yet these transformations cannot solve the fundamental problem: a debt crisis that threatens to reshape the financial landscape for years to come.

References

[1] https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/whats-impact-hybrid-work-commercial-real-estate
[2] https://www.stern.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/Gupta%20Mittal%20vanNieuwerburgh.pdf
[3] https://www.brookfield.com/views-news/insights/misunderstood-us-office-market
[4] https://www.naiop.org/research-and-publications/research-reports/reports/office-space-demand-forecast-4q25
[5] https://meketa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/MEKETA_Office-Space.pdf
[6] https://www.jll.com/content/dam/jllcom/en/us/documents/reports/research-reports/market-dynamics-office/q1/25-insight-san-francisco-office-market-dynamics-q1-2025.pdf
[7] https://www.pbmares.com/preparing-for-the-cre-maturity-wall
[8] https://www.mmcginvest.com/post/us-office-market-grapples-with-surging-cmbs-delinquencies-and-shifting-industry-trends
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH8WdzHIK1Q
[10] https://cred-iq.com/blog/2024/11/21/extend-and-pretend-loan-modifications-see-the-fastest-growth-along-with-foreclosures
[11] https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2024/10/federal-reserve-bank-publishes-paper-on-extend-and-pretend-workouts
[12] https://voitco.com/office-conversions-gaining-momentum
[13] https://www.bdcnetwork.com/building-sector-reports/multifamily-housing/apartments/news/55265961/office-to-residential-conversions-hit-record-high-in-2025
[14] https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/united-states/news/2025/10/office-to-residential-conversions-surge-to-record-levels-in-new-york-city
[15] https://www.northspyre.com/blog/office-to-residential-conversions

DEV Community: Yashvardhan Chaudhry

From Ancient Bread to Modern Icon: The History of the Sandwich

References

The Office Crisis: How Remote Work Triggered a Commercial Real Estate Reckoning

References