November 3 - Sandwich Day in the U.S.A.

Posted on November 3, 2021

Key Points

This is an update of my post published on November 3, 2010:

“Sandwiches are beautiful,
sandwiches are fine!

I like sandwiches—I eat them all the time!”

– song by Bob King

Today is Sandwich Day because it is the birthday of the guy who is often said to have invented sandwiches.

John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, was born on November 3, 1718. He liked to play card games so much, he didn’t want to bother to take a break for a proper meal that had to be eaten with knife and fork. Instead, he often ordered his servants to bring him a slice of meat between two slices of bread. He could play cards and eat the one-handed meal at the same time—and his hands didn’t get greasy.

John Montagu

You can see from his resemblance to the “Founding
Fathers” of the U.S. that this painting was created
by Thomas Gainsborough at roughly the same time
that the United States was born. The fashion of breeches,
waistcoats, and powdered wigs made men a bit difficult
to distinguish from one another!

Of course, even though many sources retell this story of the Earl of Sandwich inventing the entire idea of sandwiches, people have been making and eating sandwiches (by many other names) since the invention of bread during the Neolithic Age.

The sandwich – with the name “sandwich” – made its way into polite English and American society from a food shared by men as they played cards, to a late-night meal for aristocratic men and women, to a fast, portable midday meal for the working classes in the new factories and industrial settings.

By the way, even though Montagu didn’t invent sandwiches, they do owe their name to him. Also, a friend of Montagu’s named James Cook discovered some Pacific Islands and named them the Sandwich Islands.