Americans Eat About 300 Million Sandwiches Every Day

Whether you stack it high or thin, National Sandwich Day on November 3rd recognizes one of America’s favorite lunch items.

• 1st Century BC: Ancient records indicate that Hillel the Elder, a Jewish Rabbi predating the birth of Christ, suggests that the elements of the sacred Seder meal (herbs, nuts and apples) could be placed between two pieces of matzah and eaten as a sandwich.
• 25 BC to 475 AD: Ancient Roman texts indicate that people have been putting cheese on bread and heating it up. for as long as 2000 years.
• 16th Century: Italian panini recipe is published. records indicate that the Italians were making Panini sandwiches long before the sandwich was ‘created’ in England
• 1718 – John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich was born. (Some sources list November 13). Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands after him (now known as Hawaii).
• 1762 – The first written record of the word “sandwich” appeared in Edward Gibbons journal on November 24, 1762.
• 1815 – The verb ‘to sandwich’ is over 200 years old. It was first used in 1815 to mean ‘to have a light meal’.
• 1884 – Boston Cooking School cookbook are recipes for various types of sandwiches. This included varieties such as corned beef, chicken salad, cooked ham, lobster and even raw beef
• 1894 – The Club sandwich is first served at the upstate New York Saratoga Club-House, the club sandwich contained chicken, bacon, lettuce and tomato between two (or even three!) slices of toasted bread.
• 1901 – The first reference of peanut butter paired with jelly on bread was rumored to be published in the United States by Julia Davis Chandler.
• 1903 – First club sandwich recipe is published.  Just a decade after it is introduced, the club sandwich is put in print by Isabel Gordon Curtis in the Good Housekeeping Everyday Cookbook.
• 1923 – The grilled cheese sandwich is invented. While various versions of the hot cheese sandwich have been claimed by different cultures, the American version of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich came about when both processed cheese and sliced bread became readily available
• 1929 – The Po’boy is created by two brothers who own a sandwich shop in New Orleans to feed hungry workers on strike during the Great Depression.
• 1931 – The earliest reference to a ‘bacon sandwich’ listed in the Oxford English Dictionary was by George Orwell.
• 1965 – Subway is founded on August 28 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
• 2006 – A court in Boston, Massachusetts rules that a sandwich includes at least two slices of bread, and does not include burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, as they are typically made with a single tortilla
• The sandwich is believed to be the namesake of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich,
• It is said that Lord Sandwich was a very conversant gambler and did not take the time to have a meal during his long hours playing at the card table.  When hungry, he would ask his servants to bring him slices of meat between two slices of bread.  This practice was a habit that was well known to his gambling friends who soon began to order “the same as Sandwich,” and from this, the sandwich was born.
• 12 billion — the number of sandwiches consumed every year in the U.K.
• 5,440 pounds — the weight of the world’s largest sandwich.
• £345 — the price of the most expensive sandwich ever, created by Chef Tom Bridge
• 607 — the record for the most sandwiches prepared simultaneously, achieved by the British Sandwich Association (U.K.)
• $28,000 — the price of the most expensive sandwich ever sold, a grilled toast sandwich.
• Americans eat about 300 million sandwiches every day.
• People eat an average of 3.7 sandwiches per week.
• Nearly half of all people (47%) ate a sandwich in the past day.
• More than 9 in 10 (92%) people bought a sandwich away from home in the past two months.
• 35% of adults ate at least one sandwich per week at a restaurant, 29% ate one from a drive-through, 16% from a supermarket or convenience store, 7% from a cafeteria, and 6% had a sandwich from a street vendor or food truck.
• The average American will have consumed 1500 PB&Js by the time they graduate high school
• The most popular sandwich in the USA is a standard ham sandwich filled with ham, cheese, mustard, and mayonnaise.
• According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a sandwich must contain at least 35% cooked meat and no more than 50% bread.
• The most people making sandwiches simultaneously is 2,586 and was achieved by TangoTab and Friends (USA), at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, USA, on 27 February 2016.
• Depending on the region, hero sandwiches have been called many other names, including hoagie, grinder, and sub. The latter comes from Benedetto Capaldo’s Italian deli in New London, Conn., during World War II. The deli received an order from the nearby US Naval submarine base for 500 hero sandwiches. From that day forward any time, a customer ordered a hero sandwich the employees at the deli called it a “sub.”
• 60% of sandwiches sold globally are actually hamburgers.
• In the United States, people’s favorite sandwich is peanut butter and jelly. In 2011, 30% of the adults surveyed in an American study indicated that PB&J was their favorite sandwich.
• Why do sandwiches taste better when someone makes them for you?  This is mainly because when we make food for ourselves, we get desensitized to the smell, and a large part of tasting is actually smelling. So when you make food for yourself and eat it, it’s similar to tasting without smelling.
• When someone else does the cooking for you, and ideally when you’re in another room, where you can’t smell it, the result is different.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Mobile-cuisine

Just Fun Facts

Earl of Sandwich

Costanza Bakery

Days of the Year

Sandwich America

National Today