National Sandwich Week

Last week was National Sandwich Week, but what do you know about the history of one of Britain's favourite foods?

Evidence of people eating bread first appears in 7500 BCE, during the Stone Age. People have been eating sandwiches in one form or another since they began eating bread. So the history of sandwiches could be said to stretch back nearly 10,000 years.

Serving delicate finger food between two slices of bread was a culinary practice among upper class ancient Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples (this "upper-crust" tradition carries over into modern English high tea).

The first recorded sandwich was eaten in the 1st century BCE by Hillel the Elder. The famous rabbi ate a mixture of sweet and bitter foods between two pieces of matzoh bread, as a symbol of Jewish slavery. The practice is now a Passover custom, known as the Hillel Sandwich.

However, food historians generally attribute the creation of the sandwich, as we know it today, to John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. This Englishman was said to have been fond of gambling. As the story goes, in 1762, during a 24 hour gambling streak he instructed a cook to prepare his food in such a way that it would not interfere with his game. The cook presented him with sliced meat between two pieces of toast. Perfect! This meal required no utensils and could be eaten with one hand, leaving the other free to continue the game.

Approximately 2 billion sandwiches are purchased in the UK each year with the commercial market being worth approximately £3.5 billion - that's huge - bigger than the UK pizza market which is only worth c £1 billion. Around another 2.67 billion sandwiches are eaten by way of lunchboxes which contain sandwiches and it's thought that 6.24 billion sandwiches are made within the home taking the total amount of sandwiches made to 10.96 billion per year - that's almost 200 sandwiches per person each year.

Sandwiches are so popular that they even have their own awards ceremony - The Sammies - The British Sandwich Industry Awards. From sandwich bars to new sandwich concepts, the search is intensive and involves a wide panel of judges working for months across the UK with the aim of finding the very best. The aim of these awards is to encourage everyone in the industry to do things even better and to reward those who are doing the most to lead the way.

The true beauty of the sandwich has to be its versatility. They can be made from an enormous range of filings and they're quick and easy to make. Do you enjoy the traditional cheese and pickle or BLT or have you created your own special sandwich recipe? We'd love to know...