The Aristocratic Origins Behind the Simple Sandwich

18th Century historian Jon Townsend took a look back at the aristocratic origins behind the seemingly simple sandwich. Townsend explained how John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, for whom the food was named, wanted something filling and portable to eat while gambling and asked his valet to put meat between two slices of bread. This incident took place in 1716, and while the sandwich was very exclusive at first, the idea took on a life of its own beginning in the 19th century.

This is a food that was a very rich man’s food. The Earl of Sandwich, he invents this and then it’s in gentlemen’s clubs and a hundred years later it becomes a workman’s food, a common food for everyone. 

He then prepared a simple sandwich recipe from the 1801 edition of The Lady’s Assistant by Charlotte Mason.

Let’s make that very first sandwich. Charlotte Masons “The Lady’s Assistant” has the first recipe for sandwiches. It goes like this; put some very thin slices of beef between thin slices of bread and butter cut the ends off neatly lay them in a dish. ….So very very simple it’s just a bread, a little butter, a little meat.