Full transcript
0:00It's clearly a pretty obvious thing to stick a bit of filling
0:02between two slices of something along the lines of bread
0:05and eat it with your hands,
0:07but the British sandwich industry is worth £8 billion a year.
0:11Across Western Europe and America sandwiches are booming.
0:14Some made in-home but most bought on the run.
0:17It's been done for thousands of years,
0:19whether it's with flatbread or yeasted loaves, cheese or meat,
0:22especially by those eating away from a table.
0:24For instance, working on the fields or as a casual snack.
0:28It wasn't named though
0:29or even recognised as a thing which needed a name
0:32until the 18th Century.
0:34The story goes that John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich,
0:37a town on the south coast of England,
0:38was at the gambling table one night, decided not to stop for supper,
0:42and ordered a simple snack of beef between two slices of bread.
0:45The real story is a bit less clear cut.
0:48Montagu wasn't a big spender, he was broke most of the time,
0:51and his idea didn’t come out of nowhere.
0:53He'd almost certainly seen pitta breads used with a filling
0:55on his travels in the Eastern Mediterranean.
0:57Whatever the truth, the concept was certainly named after him,
1:01and the word was in fashionable use by the 1770s.
1:04Early sandwiches stayed close to the original idea,
1:07they were designed for quick eating
1:08initially by men doing business at coffee houses
1:10or playing cards,
1:12and then for more mixed tea parties, ball buffets and light suppers.
1:16Early 19th Century sandwiches were intended to be elegant,
1:19often served on doilies with the crusts cut off.
1:22But the name was also used for the age-old worker's meal -
1:25thick bread, butter and a universal filling of ham.
1:28And by the middle of the Victorian period
1:30sandwich sellers clustered around every factory gate.
1:33One writer called them mouth-distorters,
1:36and pleaded for sandwich makers to make them delicate and delicious.
1:39His suggested fillings included:
1:41Bone marrow and nasturtium, potted woodcock,
1:43sliced sweetbreads, sea kale and oranges soaked in brandy.
1:47A more humble alternative was provided
1:49by best-selling author Isabella Beeton.
1:52She suggested a toast sandwich -
1:53literally a slice of cold toast between two slices of bread,
1:57well-seasoned with salt and pepper.
1:59It was, apparently, particularly well-suited for invalids.
2:02In the 20th Century
2:03the British sandwich of two slices of bread and a filling
2:06was joined by other alternatives from overseas.
2:08The Scandinavian open sandwich was praised by British food writer
2:11Marguerite Patten in the 1960s.
2:14While filled pittas, croissants and wraps
2:16have also crept in to join the basic bread and butter version.
2:19Toasted sandwiches came out of the States in the 1920s
2:21when the Toastie-Maker was patented.
2:24The US had become sandwich-central,
2:26even briefly having a national Sandwich Day on November the 3rd -
2:29the original Earl of Sandwich's birthday.
2:31But it wasn't until 1980
2:33that the pre-packed sandwich made its first appearance
2:35in Marks and Spencer and initially only in five stores.
2:39They were an instant hit
2:40and now the working lunch is almost synonymous
2:42with the prawn cocktail sandwich -
2:44still M&S's biggest seller.
2:46The science behind constructing a non-soggy sandwich
2:49which can last all day is very big business indeed.
2:52Of course, the predictable fillings still vie
2:55with slightly more avant-garde attempts.
2:57Lasange-wich anyone?
2:58And many sandwich aficionados swear blind
3:01that the biggest improvement to any bought sandwich
3:03is a layer of ready-salted crisps.