Apple pie ? Baseball ? A Toby Keith fan in crosscut jorts and a " Back - to - back World War Champs " armored combat vehicle top ? Please .
No thing , individual , or symbolisation illustrate America quite like the sandwich . Although an Englishmanowns the name , and the first recorded instance ( allegedly ) belongs to aMiddle Eastern rabbi , no polish has embraced food placed on or between slice of shekels as zealously as the US of A.We canonize our heroes with Hero of Alexandria , and send our minor to kindergarten pack only PB&J ’s . It ’s simultaneously the workingman ’s one - handed lunch break , anda guilty pleasure of once and ( peradventure ) future presidents .
expect , all sandwich are important , but some are simply more important than the rest . These are the sandwich that change the way Americans eat , as determined by a board of nutrient historians and top - ledge chef .
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Po-boys fueled public transit reform
On the shores of New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century , workings - year bakeries combined local seafood staples and Italian heart – made popular bya wave of Sicilian immigrants– to make a distinctly Bayou sandwich that has since gained countrywide fame .
" The po - son is indicative of the food of the low division at the clock time ( approx . 1920 ) – it was sure enough a workingman ’s food,“Amy Bentley , authorand NYU food studies prof , enjoin . fable states the sandwich were createdby local bread makers , who break free sandwiches to streetcar worker on strike to show their bread and butter . The sugar - makers nickname the starve strikers " poor boys , " which inevitably become " po - boy , " styled after the local emphasis .
The United States Post Office - boy is noted for two ground : it ’s probable the most commonly known seafood sandwich , outside the ascetical fried Pisces or tunny salad , and it escaped its hometown to find national renown – which is the American dream , after all . " The po - boy last from a regional , lower - class staple fibre , to being offered on countrywide menus for $ 17 , " say sandwich expert and authorJoel Jensen .
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The breakfast sandwich became the OG shift meal
It ’s likely the great unwashed have put bacon , eggs , and sausage between bread since the Second Coming of lolly and common sense – but the modern breakfast sandwich definitely changed the way we eat breakfast . " We can trace our modern theme of the breakfast sandwich back to luncheon counters , ' nighttime owl ' ( other diners ) , and niggling stand outside factories in the early parts of the 20th one C , " food historiographer and authorMegan Eliassaid . " Workers would grab one before – or after – a shift and eat it on the go . "
The breakfast sandwich brought to breakfast what traditional sandwich bring to lunch : an efficient way to get a decent repast , aright in the palm of your hand .
" Then McDonald ’s come out with theMcMuffinin the early ' 70s , and it became a known and usable trade good all over the country , " Jensen pronounce .
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As Nation ’s Restaurant News study , the breakfast sandwichhas never been more popular . We can only assume a large percent of millennials are starting their dawn with a smartphone in one hand , and an egg sandwich in the other . Sorry , cereal .
Meatball subs brought cultures together
" In World War II , Italian - Americans realise a raw degree of respect and recognitionof their countrymen by serve alongside them . So , post - war , as Italian civilization became more wide take over , Italian cuisine really began to pass through what Americans ate , " Elias say . " This is when these sandwiches advance popularity . "
Likepizza , themeatballsub ( as well as the chicken Parmesan sub ) is an American take on a traditional export , it ’s take something large from the old world , and transpose it into a staple fiber of the great cultural melting pot . As immigrants from Italy began to pullulate into cities like New York , they take their food with them . by nature , they come up their way into sandwiches .
" It ’s hard to get more American than this . We claim something from Italy , combined it with the approximation of the submarine – something totally American – and made a meal of our own . In my opinion , this make itmoreAmerican . "
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The Philly cheesesteak brought hedonistic eating to the working class
One of the few thing fromPhiladelphia worth make up attending to(aside from this stirring rendering of " Dayman " ) , the cheesesteak is a lowly - town sandwich that hit the magnanimous time .
" The cheesesteak was ' invented , ' in theearly decennary of the 20th hundred , and it show up how food morphed into a specially American style . pose all this meat and tall mallow – an Italian immigrant staple – onto this kind of hoity-toity sandwich … but making it for a blue - collar customer . It was the type of nutrient working - division masses could afford to rust , out of the house , " Jensen said .
The cheesesteak might be the first and most well - known representative of a decked - out , almost hedonic sandwich that Americans be intimate to gratify in . Like New Orleans ' polonium - boy , it brought the solid food of a region and a symbolisation of a urban center ’s civilisation to the uttermost reaches of country . And today , local establishments like Geno ’s , Pat ’s , and Tony Luke ’s continue toduke it outin the City of Brotherly love .
Wikimedia/Phil Denton
" The ability to feign legitimacy kind of made the cheesesteak a ' viral ' thing , so to speak , " said chef , generator , and television personality Justin Warner . " It ’s dewy-eyed , and you’re able to hope to get this delightful sandwich almost everywhere , and you know precisely what you are run low to get . It ’s the beauty of the cheesesteak . Also , it ’s just delicious , right-hand ? "
The club sandwich liberated women’s lunchtime
At one degree , the toasted breadstuff , slit prepare fowl , fried Sir Francis Bacon , lettuce , Lycopersicon esculentum , and mayonnaise cut into triangles was a slightness , a collation of the upper echelon . plainly , this was a dark , dark , minute in our country ’s account . The nine was the loadstar of the fancy - pants sandwich worldly concern , and the first ( and peradventure last ? ) sandwich shoot for at woman , in particular . " Like most of these sandwiches , it ’s hard to pinpoint the exact origin of the cabaret , " Bentley said . " But it ’s recognise they became popular in ladies ' lodge , or card clubs , as digit intellectual nourishment in the late 1800s . It raise the idea of the sandwich . "
" The club sandwich was very much a sandwich design for ladies , " Elias read . " These were served in department stores and at squad rooms , basically through the 1920s . It was a fancy thing to eat . "
The sandwich became a street food and lunchroom staple – and not the sumptuousness item it had been ( more on that by and by ) – at the same time women set out replacing humanity who were fighting in WWII . womanhood who were comfortable eating sandwiches began bringing them into the workplace . The club ’s influence , cultural appeal , and perspective as a ubiquitous , decidedly safe - for - employment repast only strengthened from there .
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Rosie the Rivetermay not have a club sandwich , specifically , in her hand . But she ’s holding a sandwich , becauseof the baseball club , and its influence .
The grilled cheese made kids care about lunch
Thegrilled cheese– that simple sandwich of grill gelt and a slice of melty cheese – is a simplistic assay-mark of dwelling kitchen and dining compartment heel counter . It ’s a simple one - filling sandwich that well-nigh every kid in America has found on their plate at least once .
" It ’s a natural progress of the cheese toastie , or even the clear - face cheeseflower sandwich seen in former diners , " Elias enjoin . " It probably began to gain popularity in the 1920s , with pre - shredded bread and American cheese becoming available to consumers . "
Thegrilled cheeseisn’t an all important American sandwich because of its profligacy or culinary complexity . It ’s an American classic because of its effortless magic spell . The invention of the grilled cheese usher in an era where canonic sandwiches , like the PB&J ( more on that later ) , became standard lunchtime meals for kid . It helped impart sandwiches to a new hearing . And as those kids grew up , they made grilled cheeses for their own tike .
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grill cheese is one of the most glaringly mawkish of all American food . " For me , this is one of the clean-cut paradigms of a sandwich , and what a sandwich should be , " Jensen tell .
The Reuben made America care about delis
cured bitch . Sauerkraut . Swiss cheese . Russian dressing . All sandwiched between two heavyset pieces of rye bread . The Reuben could essentially serve as Plato ’s ideal variety of an NY delicatessen sandwich … despite being ( allegedly ! Maybe ! ) make up in Omaha , Nebraska . It ’s also one of the more complicated and offbeat offerings on this list .
" The acclivity of the Reuben came alongside the rising of the diner , and the rise of the food shop across the land , after WWII , " tell Elias . As delis and diner begin to serve pastiche of immigrant food spot - war , the Reuben chop-chop became one of the most recognizable sandwich in America .
" It ’s so unique , and so iconic , " Bentley say . " It ’s probably the honorable and most well - get laid model of the speciality food shop sandwich . People love and eat Reubens all over the state . " It ’s a sandwich in truth corking than the amount of its character , and the entry on the list that represents the influence of the deli – one of the major pillar of the US sandwich scene .
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" Overall , the Reuben should be considered one of our secure sandwich , " Warner said . " If aliens come , and wanted a sandwich , I ’d vote to give them a Reuben first . " Also , it should be credited with single - handedly hold back rye dinero relevant .
Subway™ mated assembly lines with deli meats
This is kind of an outlier on this list , as it ’s calling out a make , and not a sandwich archetype , but the influence of Subway on the sandwich world is undeniable . Even if you are not a personal fan of the mass - produced submarine , it ’s impossible to debate their sprawling influence on the American dieting . It made hero - style delicatessen sandwiches available in nearly every town in America , for $ 5 or less . moot Subway theFord Model Tof sandwiches .
In 1965 , businessmanFred DeLucabummed $ 1,000 from his ally Peter to start a little sandwich hut in suburban Connecticut . Fifty year and well-nigh 44,000 new sandwich shops later , Subwayis now a profligate - food monolith . " It ’s basically the McDonald ’s version of the classic sub or hoagie , " Bentley say . " It brought an meeting place - business line , chain brainpower to the traditional sandwich Earth , andmade it possible to get a subin almost any township in America . "
The mass - produce Subway hoagie peculiarly exploded in popularity as a " levelheaded option " as opposed to other deep - fry truehearted food , and remain one ofAmerica ’s top profligate - nutrient option . For better or bad , this is the the great unwashed ’s sandwich .
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Burgers democratized dining out
" The United States is in spades a country that values convenience and speed , that often value amount over quality – these are ubiquitous qualities in the sandwich , and defines why we love them so much . The hamburgeris a quality example of that , " Bentley tell .
Is a hamburger a sandwich ? somewhat much , yeah . It ’s a sandwich so permeative , we tend to categorise it as its own entity in the culinary world . But the canonical tenets of sandwichdom ( filling between two slices of bread ) are here .
" The hamburger , despite its extraneous origins , is undeniably American , " Jensen say . " Like so many other sandwiches , this gain fame in the early 20th C , as a quick meal for the working grade , at point of view external factories or nearby buffet car . " These diner Warren E. Burger were the natural advance of other heart and soul sandwiches exhaust by immigrant around the play of the century .
Sara Norris/Thrillist
By the time McDonald’sopened its arch in ' 55 , most of America was familiar with the hamburger . And over the next few decades , Mickey D ’s express burger outpost would only solidify the burger as a nutrient of the wad .
" The hamburger is a meal in one manus , " Warner said . " That ’s a beautiful thing . "
" burger really represent the democratisation of dining out , " Elias tell . " Its boost in popularity was suggestive of a declamatory intellectual nourishment movement . In the ' 20 , the dispirited class start seeking out food , outside their homes . Burger were a cheap and workable option that immediately appropriate the hoi polloi ’s tending , and became an American staple . "
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Peanut butter & jelly ended sandwich classism
Like the grill Malva sylvestris , thePB&Jisn’t remarkable in its forcible form . It ’s important because of what it meant to the earth of sandwiches , and food in general .
" The peanut butter & jelly is particularly of import because it marked the ending of sandwich as an upper - class food , and made them something everyone eat , " saidauthor and food for thought historiographer Andrew Smith . " After the invention of chopped bread ( 1928 ) , sandwich became something masses could make at home , and perhaps most significantly , became something children could make themselves . The PB&J is kind of symbolic , as the first sandwich that really come across with minor . "
The monkey nut butter & jelly is quintessentially American ( " Even peanut vine butter is an American excogitation , " Jensen said ) . Its adoration is heavily fueled by pangs of nostalgia . For most of us , it was our first maraud into"cooking . “It transcends metre , and has largely remained unchanged for more than century . It can even be considered a " gateway sandwich . "
" It ’s the first thing we learn to make as kids , " Warner said , " but it ’s a very complex flavor compounding . It ’s a enceinte step for our developing tongue to get this sapidity juxtaposition in one bite , and to pave the way for more complex food . "
Like the sandwich itself , the goober butter & jelly is a complex culinary virgule , masquerade as a simple dish . And like America , its true power lie not only in what itis , but what it represents . So the next clip you bite into a PB&J , drink the stars and stripe , imagine about your childhood , and just strain not to shed a patriotic rip along the way . This is America . And this is our sandwich .
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