And for your final bread topic for now – no guarantee this is the final bread ponderings!
As per a recent pondering article, sliced bread became a commercial reality in the 1920’s with the invention of first machine to cut a full loaf of bread into slices in one go. But, according history books, the first sandwich was created in 1762 by John Montagu who was the fourth Earl of Sandwich.
Why did he create a sandwich you ask? Well the story goes that he was a big gambler and spent many hours at a table playing cards. One day while on a day long playing bender he was hungry and, because “necessity is the mother of invention”, he asked if the kitchen could bring something he was able to eat with his hands. All this so he did not have to leave his seat. The kitchen came out with two slices of bread with roast beef in the middle which became known as the sandwich.
From that day forward the sandwich started to make it’s way around England and by the Revolutionary War it was considered a staple dish.
Even though it was considered a staple in England not long after it was created / invented, the sandwich took until the early 1800’s before it turned up in an American cookbook.
By the time the sandwich reached America the fillings were no longer limited to cold meat and recipes included many of the ingredients that are in a modern day sandwich. But in reality who needs a recipe for a sandwich… just take two pieces of bread and put anything you like between them, the choices are endless!
Your homework for today is to ponder on the humble sandwich and the big roll (pun not intended) it plays in most people’s lives today.
Ponder away!
