Day 65 - Sandwich nation

I think if I were to write a book about Canadians, I could easily get away with the title, Timbit Nation. No Canadian would wonder why...we are a people who have somehow come to define ourselves by how far away we live from a Tim Hortons. We may not go everyday to a Tim Hortons, but we can rest easy knowing we could find one just about anywhere and get our fix of coffee and something sweet. We could survive, even in the depths of  winter.

I grew up a few blocks from the original Tim Horton's in Hamilton. I remember my Dad bringing home a dozen donuts all with a much stronger taste of vanilla and butter and lard than they do today...and smoke. Back then, you could measure how long it had been since a donut was made by the amount of secondhand smoke it had soaked up. Ah, nostalgia.

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
(1718-1792), is said to have originated
the sandwich when he was gambling
and didn't want to get up from the table
so asked for two slice of meat between
bread...the rest is history!

Now, why am I bringing this up? Because if I were to write an equivalent book about the UK, it would be called Sandwich Nation. According to the website British Sandwich Week (the existence of which should be proof alone that my book title is accurate), Brits eat 11.5 billion sandwiches per year. If my math is right, that's 175 sandwiches per man, woman, and child.

British consumers manage to munch their way through over 11,500,000,000 sandwiches each year (and no, I did not hold my finger down on the zero key too long).

Here's $5. I dare you to go into your local corner store in Canada and buy a sandwich and eat it. I won't even begin to expect you to like it. I can almost guarantee you that it will be soggy and tasteless, and you will have no idea how long its been sitting in the cooler next to the mystery-meat-filled burrito you can heat up in the microwave next to the Slurpee machine.

But it's different in the UK. You can get a reasonably tasty pre-packaged sandwich from just about any store...a book store (yes, a book store), a pharmacy, your local convenience store, and of course an array of shops devoted entirely to the sandwich. And when you're searching through the varieties (and you will have several choices), I can almost guarantee you that at least one or two Brits will be beside you buying one too and quickly becoming frustrated that you are taking too long to decide.

Almost any town of a reasonable size has at least one closet-sized sandwich shop in front of which you will see a steady stream of mostly construction or trade workers stopping for a sandwich. We have one just around the corner from us: the New Road Sandwich Bar. They sell a few other food items, but are so dedicated to making sure you get your daily sandwich that they've recently started to deliver!

Do you remember the books that explained how to travel on $10 a day? I think they're now up to $50 a Day, and they only include parts of the Amazon. But in the UK, you just might be able to eat on far less money than you think, and you can do it by eating sandwiches. If you go into Tesco (a grocery store), or W.H. Smith (bookstore) or Boots (a drug store), you will be able to get yourself a Meal Deal for £3 (less than $5, including taxes). This will include a sandwich of your choice (yes, any sandwich on offer), a drink (pop, water, juice including name brands) and a snack (from just about any line they sell, including chips, chocolate bars, pastries, fruit, etc.). Wondering what kind of sandwich you'd get? This link shows you the types you can buy from Tesco as an example. Maybe not the healthiest of meals, but you won't starve, and you will have variety.

Source: Daily Mail

In the UK, about 300,000 people have a job that involves sandwiches. The largest producer is a company called Greencore which has people making sandwiches at eight facilities across the UK, and makes 45,000 direct deliveries to stores each week.

They eat so many sandwiches here that you can almost always guarantee that the pre-packaged one you buy will be fresh. My favourites? Cheese and onion (which is grated and mix with mayo) and a turkey, stuffing and cranberry on granary bread. Drink choice? A bottle of San Pellegrino or Tropicana orange juice. Treat? Sadly, any type of crisp (chips) or if I'm in Boots, then I grab a Millionaire Shortbread (shortbread covered in a layer of caramel covered in a layer of chocolate). No, I should grab the pre-sliced bag of apples, but I don't.

SIDEBAR: Words to know when ordering a sandwich in a sandwich shop...

Sarnie: a sandwich
Want salad?  That just means do you want lettuce on it.
Bloomer: a crusty loaf with rounded ends, and typically with several parallel diagonal slashes across its top
Brown sauce: Think HP sauce
Red sauce: Not so much now, but I have heard this used to describe ketchup.
Gammon: Think ham, but not pre-cooked or dry-cured
Cress: Imagine you planted some seeds, some seedlings popped up, and you threw them on a sandwich.
Coronation Chicken: Chicken meat, herbs and spices, mayonnaise-based sauce. Like a light curry...just say "Yes, please."
Toastie: your sandwich put into a press (not a toaster).
Pickle: a sweet, vinegary chutney
Bap, cob, stotty, buttery, morning roll, lardy, oggie, bridie, rowie: the name for a simple bread roll will change as you travel about the UK, but it will never be called bread roll!