The Sandwich before the “Sandwich”.

The sandwich history comes with a fun story about how the sandwich was named. And even before it was named, the sandwich actually existed for thousands of years.

Sandwich Food Fact

The sandwich was created in the 1700s out of necessity, kind of.

The story behind its invention is that the Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, was on a 24-hour gambling streak.

He wanted to eat but did not want to put the cards down – and out of this, the sandwich was born.
 

Sandwich History from The Earl of Sandwich

John Montagu was the fourth Earl of Sandwich, which a historic coastal town in southeast Britain. In reality, the dish was not innovative; however, his name gave it the claim to fame.

In 1792, Montagu, an avid gambler, was deep into a night of gambling at a posh gentlemen’s club and did not want to leave his table despite his hunger. He requested the staff to bring him a slab of meat between two slices of bread.

As an Earl, Montagu traveled to parts of the Mediterranean in Greece and Turkey where he witnessed locals putting meat and other fillings into pita bread.

Montagu ate heartily while still gambling – food in one hand while gambling with the other. His companions watched as he ate and grew hungry and curious. They requested to “have the same as Sandwich.” From then on, the dish was named after the Earl.

The Actual History of the “Sandwich”

The idea of putting food between two slices of bread existed long before 1792, perhaps thousands of years old with the evidence of flatbread from 9000 BC.

The first recorded sandwich dates back to the 1st century BC at the time of King Herod. Rabbi Hillel the Elder put together a Passover meal with apples, notes, and spices soaked in wine between pieces of unleavened flatbread. Today it is known as the Hillel sandwich which is still eaten at the Seder.

The next documented sandwich came in the 6th century in Europe with what is known today as the open-faced sandwich, and back then known as the trencher. The trencher was the name of the coarse, stale bread which was used as a bread plate. The bread held the meat and other food toppings. People would just eat what was on the bread and not the bread itself. After they finished, they gave the oil and sauce-soaked bread to the poor or the dogs.

This would go on for another thousand years until a name, the sandwich, finally came to be.

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