The Great British Sandwich
We all know them, those oddly uniformly looking triangular pieces of bread with some indistinguishable filling and – if you’re lucky – a few green bits (1 of your 5 a day!). Every shop has them, ranging from the humble cheese and pickle to the more flamboyant chèvre, pear and walnut or the feistier ones with names reminiscent of 80s’ cowboy films. The quality varies hugely, but those that are mass-produced tend to be a dreary affair.
Thick slices of flavourless, sweaty cheese accompanied by pickles that manage to be both too sweet and too acidic has its, erm, charm – and so do the stringy, mayonnaise-laden chewy bits presented as chicken. The pre-packed bacon buttie is another chapter, yet the allure of bacon doesn’t seem to be hindered by the reality of what this process does to it. When cooked fresh, bacon is savoury, meaty and flowing with delicious juices. The bacon in a pre packed sandwich is limp, flavourless and reminiscent mostly of cardboard in texture. However appealing by name and description, our beloved lunch-time sandwiches are rarely something to write home about. Yet the chains selling them make millions. Read more