World Sandwich Day

The creation of this popular snack is celebrated on November 3.

There is no doubt that nowadays the sandwich is one of the most popular and consumed foods around the world. We can find an infinity of combinations to elaborate it, satisfying all possible tastes. There are currently tuna sandwiches, meat sandwiches, ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, vegetarian sandwiches, among many other variations, and it is so popular that one might think that it is a recently created dish. However, it is not, since its origin has been traced back to ancient Greece and the ancient Mediterranean peoples such as the Phoenicians, Iberians and Carthaginians, where it was a common practice to use two loaves of bread spread with a kind of dressing as a snack to mitigate hunger before dinner time.

As part of the history of this singular food we have the first written reference in the year 1762, when in a tavern in England, John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich, was in an intense game of betting, who instructed the tavern cook to serve him something to eat that would not interfere with his card game. The skillful cook put some thinly sliced pieces of meat between two loaves of bread, so that he could eat it with one hand.

Unfortunately the name of this ingenious cook was not recorded for history, but the name of the one who enjoyed it for the first time was, thus giving it the name Sandwich in allusion to the count. This is also the reason why World Sandwich Day is celebrated on November 3, since this is the date on which John Montagu was born.