Sandwiches

When we lived in England, there was one thing that my wife could not accept: sandwiches. For Tania, lunch should be hot, hearty meal. But for most English children and adults, lunch on weekday means couple of sandwiches, piece of fruit and maybe bag of crisps or cereal bar.

This habit starts at young age. most nurseries and primary schools don’t provide hot food at lunchtime, so parents have to make packed lunch for their kids every day. secondary schools usually have canteen, but kids often prefer to spend their dinner money on sandwich instead.

As for working age population, they tend to buy their daily sandwiches from supermarket or sandwich shop. most popular fillings are BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato), egg mayonnaise, tuna mayonnaise and chicken caesar. supermarket sandwiches are usually triangles of sliced bread, while sandwich shops offer baguettes and even wraps, for more health-conscious customers.

There is simple reason for this trend: convenience. kids can eat sandwiches in their classroom. office workers can eat them at their desks or on park bench. tradesmen can eat them in their vans. Then they can get back to work, which is, of course, most important thing.

It wasn’t always like this. Before 1970s many workplaces had canteens where staff could get hot meal and schools provided free hot food to children. Around this time employers realised that they could save money and space by closing their canteens and making workers find their own lunch. Then government did same in schools. By 1980s most supermarkets were selling sandwiches and sandwich shops like Pret a Manger were popping up all over country.

Unsurprisingly, people are much less healthy than they used to be. obesity levels are much higher and children seem to have many more allergies. It’s not fair to blame all this on sandwiches, but they are most obvious symbol of culture in which eating is very low priority. I used to eat sandwiches for lunch, but now I prefer borsch, shi or solyanka! Although I can’t actually make them myself…