The numbers, the records, and the lore
1. Americans eat roughly 300 million sandwiches every day, about one sandwich per person, including infants and people who didn't eat lunch. Globally, the sandwich is the most-consumed prepared food on Earth.
2. The most expensive sandwich ever sold commercially is the Quintessential Grilled Cheese at Serendipity 3 in New York City: $214. It contains white truffle butter, French Champagne bread, gold leaf, lobster, and Caciocavallo Podolico cheese. The crusts are removed.
3. The world's longest sandwich, certified by Guinness, was built in Mexicali, Mexico in 2011. It measured 735 meters (2,411 feet), longer than two Empire State Buildings laid end to end.
4. The Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, was not a particularly successful First Lord of the Admiralty, he is widely blamed for Britain's defeats in the early American Revolutionary War. The food has aged better than his political reputation.
5. Subway has more locations worldwide than McDonald's. At its peak in 2017, Subway operated more than 44,000 stores in over 100 countries.
6. Pre-sliced bread was invented by Otto Rohwedder in 1928 and was so revolutionary it spawned the phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread." During World War II, sliced bread was briefly banned in the United States to conserve steel for the war effort. The ban lasted two months before public outrage forced its repeal.
7. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich was popularized during World War II, when both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. military ration list. Returning soldiers brought the habit home, and PB&J became a lunchbox staple.
8. The Italian word panini is plural, the singular is panino. Ordering "a panini" in Italy will mark you as a tourist immediately.
9. The American three-decker club sandwich requires toothpicks because the third slice of bread creates instability. The classic configuration, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, has been on hotel and country club menus continuously since the 1890s.
10. The word sandwich entered the English language in 1762, less than two decades after John Montagu became Earl. It is one of the few common English words named for a specific person.
11. Vegemite, the dark Australian yeast spread, is so beloved as a sandwich filling that the Australian government considered restricting its export during World War II. Today, Australians consume over 22 million jars per year.
12. The Japanese convenience-store sandwich (the konbini sando) is built to such exacting specifications that 7-Eleven Japan has a department dedicated to sandwich quality control. The fillings must reach the bread crust on every side.
13. The hamburger was likely invented in Hamburg, Germany, but the modern bun-encased version originated in the United States, with multiple competing claims from the late 1800s. The most credible: Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, who flattened a meatball between bread slices in 1885 to make it easier to walk and eat.
14. The Vietnamese bánh mì exists because the French colonized Vietnam and brought baguettes. After Vietnam gained independence, the baguette stayed, modified with rice flour to be lighter and crisper than its French ancestor.
15. "Hoagie" comes from Philadelphia and refers to Italian sandwiches eaten by workers at the Hog Island shipyard during World War I. The workers were called "hoggies," and the name eventually transferred to their lunch.
16. The British prime minister Margaret Thatcher claimed to subsist almost entirely on egg-and-cress sandwiches and black coffee during major political crises. Her staff allegedly kept a permanent supply in the Downing Street fridge.
17. The Joy of Cooking (first published 1931) included a section on sandwich-making with over 100 recipes. The 1975 edition expanded this to over 200, including such period delicacies as the "jellied chicken sandwich" and the "sardine and lemon sandwich."
18. In Denmark, smørrebrød, open-faced rye sandwiches, are eaten with a knife and fork. Picking one up with your hands is considered a serious breach of table manners.
19. The cheesesteak was almost certainly never eaten by Benjamin Franklin, despite the legend told to tourists in Philadelphia. It was invented in 1930, well over a century after Franklin's death.
20. The bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich (BLT) became popular in the United States only after World War II, when refrigeration became widespread enough to make fresh tomatoes available year-round. Before that, lettuce-and-tomato sandwiches were strictly seasonal.
21. The world's largest sandwich by weight was a Cuban sandwich constructed in Havana in 2017, over 5,400 pounds. It took ten chefs and twelve hours to assemble.
22. The ice cream sandwich predates the modern hamburger. It was first sold by pushcart vendors in the Bowery district of New York City in 1899, three years before the first hamburger restaurant opened.
23. Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich was the "Fool's Gold Loaf", an entire hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with a jar of peanut butter, a jar of grape jelly, and a pound of bacon. He once flew his private jet from Tennessee to Denver specifically to eat one. The cost of that flight, in 1976 dollars, was approximately $16,000.
24. The Korean gyeran-ppang (egg bread) is a sweet street-food sandwich consisting of a soft yeast bun baked with a whole egg in the middle. It is sold from carts in winter and considered the ultimate comfort food.
25. The current Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu (the 11th Earl, born 1943), launched a sandwich chain in 2004 called Earl of Sandwich. It has locations in Disney parks. The original Earl, presumably, would have approved.