W10 - Sandwich

Now that I have put some thought into it, defining a “sandwich” isn’t as easy as I had initially anticipated.  I suppose the definition rests in the hands of the definer and the definition can vary significantly from person to person.

To me, a sandwich is an entrée eaten mainly at lunch; however, this entrée may also be eaten at dinner (in the case of a poor college student who can afford nothing more than two pieces of Wonder Bread and bologna) or at breakfast in the case of the “breakfast sandwich” as made infamous by the one and only McDonald’s (complete with eggs and bacon/sausage atop an English Muffin or bagel).  Personally, I feel a sandwich consists of two pieces of bread between which comes a wide variety of deli meats, cheese and toppings.  Sandwich breads can include the following: sliced bread, bagels and English Muffins; however, pitas are not a sandwich because they are pitas, quesadillas are quesadillas and wraps are wraps. Deli meats can include but are not limited to (but a sandwich does not necessarily need to incorporate meat): turkey, ham, chicken, bacon, egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, bologna and salami.  Furthermore, toppings can range significantly from lettuce and tomato to condiments to potato chips. 

I firmly believe that a hamburger is not a sandwich for the reason that all sandwiches need to be able to have the title “sandwich” follow its name – for example, egg salad sandwich, BLT sandwich, turkey and cheese sandwich, etc.  For the same reason, a quesadilla is not a sandwich nor is a hot dog though they can possess a variety of toppings between two pieces of bread. 

Furthermore, I personally feel the name/title sandwich possesses an American persona.  Rarely do I consider Germans, Italians and Greeks to be heavy sandwich users come lunchtime.  I’m sure they can prepare something much more elaborate than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Leave it to the Americans to be too lazy to whip up something more enticing than a sandwich -- but, i suppose it's better than rolling through the McDonald's drive-through.