Imagine a world with no sandwiches, no egg mayo, no ham and cheese. It would result in boring lunches to say the least! Nothing beats a good sandwich, but there are so many elements that need to be considered to make it perfect; nothing must be forgotten! From the bread, the thickness of butter, right through to the salad leaves and chutney.

But where did the term ‘sandwich’ originate from?

It is thought that the mode of consumption, which we know as the modern sandwich, is an ancient one. The concept of bread either side of another food type predates to the eighteenth century. The name of the ‘sandwich’, however, was adopted in 1762 century by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, you see the link? Montagu, was known for his gambling addiction which lead to him not wanting to leave the card table; in turn he asked for food which allowed him to continue gambling, without using a fork and getting his cards greasy. The sandwich slowly grew in popularity and by 1783 the term ‘sandwich’ was well established in the United Kingdom.

When did the pre-packaged sandwich take over the UK?

In Spring 1980, the first pre-packaged sandwich arrived on the shelves of Marks & Spencer, with the price of one sandwich costing just 43p! It wasn’t first understood why customers would buy something that could easily be made at home, but the idea, soon spread and the packaged sandwich rapidly redefined a way of living and working. Soon every supermarket was to jump on the trend and packaged sandwiches can now be found in almost every food-to-go operator.
Still to this day the sandwich is continually growing in popularity, with more diverse and delicious ingredients than ever, such as charcoal bread and even spaghetti. The list goes on!

The Christmas Sandwich

The infamous Christmas sandwich has taken the nation by a storm and starts to appear on shelves in OCTOBER! With many UK retailers competing to be crowned the unofficial winner of the Christmas sandwich! Last year, Waitrose’s Christmas sandwich, containing turkey, stuffing & bacon with cranberry, port & orange chutney was voted one of the best Christmas sandwiches. If you have a second, check out our vlog we created last year on the range of Christmas sandwiches on the market!

Sandwich Facts

– An average sandwich takes 5 minutes to consume
– 4,000,000,000 sandwiches are purchased from UK retail or catering outlets each year
– The sandwich industry in the UK is worth an estimated £8bn a year and employs around 325,000 people
– The sandwich even has its very own week in May running from 19th-25th, which is a week-long celebration dedicated to this delicious creation!
– According to Kantar’s 2017-18 assessment of the £20bn-valued food-to-go market, sandwiches are the most popular product, with a 57% share of the market
– Brits buy more than 3.5 billion sandwiches every year

Sources:

www.britishsandwichweek.com/index.php/about/1-what-is-british-sandwich-week
www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/2019/09/why-we-need-talk-about-lunch
www.britishsandwichweek.com/index.php/about/16-sandwich-statistics
www.britannica.com/topic/sandwich
www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/24/how-the-sandwich-consumed-britain