How the sandwich consumed Britain

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&#x27;re very good.<p>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.

As a Brit now living in the US, I can&#x27;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.<p>A ham and cheese sandwich in the UK is usually a thin layer of ham, a thin layer of cheese, and some butter.<p>In the US, it&#x27;s thick wodges of both, plus tomato and lettuce. It&#x27;s just a more compelling option, and a small sad thing in a cardboard box pales in comparison.

<p><pre><code> 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. </code></pre> Reading this in 1992 I was entertained by Douglas Adams&#x27;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.<p>Of course over here we have restaurants such as McDonald&#x27;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?

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.<p>You&#x27;d think you&#x27;d get tired of the &quot;all day breakfast triple&quot;, but nope!

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.<p>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&#x27;s largely an academic question these days.<p>I never understood Subway here, just the smell walking past one on the street makes me feel slightly queasy.

Maybe it&#x27;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.<p>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.

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.<p>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.<p>That&#x27;s not to say I object to a packet of sandwiches ow and again, but it rapidly loses its charm if that&#x27;s all there is near work. I am lucky enough to have street food markets nearby in my current role.

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.

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.

Whether the packaged sandwich industry is setting its sights on dinner, it has long since set its sights on <i>Christmas</i> 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.<p>* <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jdebp.eu.&#x2F;FGA&#x2F;christmas-sandwich&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;jdebp.eu.&#x2F;FGA&#x2F;christmas-sandwich&#x2F;</a>

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

Interestingly, you still can&#x27;t buy a pre-made sandwich from a supermarket in Australia. We have Subways and sandwiches at cafe&#x27;s and corner stores, but actually barely any &quot;ready to eat&quot; meals at our supermarkets.<p>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?

The way the company representitives talked about &quot;breaking into dinner&quot; was almost dystopic. How could you be proud to think of disrupting an evening meal with a convenience item for your own profit? It&#x27;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.

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).<p>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.

1. I love ‘shop bought’ sandwiches.<p>2. My wife used to work a night shift at a sandwich factory when she was a student.

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

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

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