Sandwich: A Global History (Edible)

The humble peanut butter and jelly or bologna and cheese or corned beef on ryeno matter your cooking expertise chances are youve made and eaten countless sandwiches in your lifetime. Its quick its simple and its open to infinite variety and inventiveness. If theres something bread- or bun-like in your cupboard there is a sandwich waiting to happen. Though sandwiches are a near-universal food their origin can be traced to a very precise historical figure: John Montagu the Fourth Earl of Sandwich who sometime before 1762 being too busy to stop for dinner asked for some cold beef to be brought to him between two slices of bread. In Sandwich award-winning food writer Bee Wilson unravels the mystery of how the Earl invented this most elementary but delicious way of eating. Wilson explores what sandwiches might have been like before the eighteenth century why the name sandwich stuck and how the Earls invention took off so quickly around the globe. Wilson brings together a wealth of material to trace how the sandwich has evolved looking at sandwiches around the world from the decadent meatball hoagie to the dainty cucumber tea sandwich. Loved the world over this popular food has surprisingly never before been the subject of a book-length history until now.