Sandwich celebrates 250 years of sangers

From correspondents in London
AFP
May 14, 2012

THE British town of Sandwich is staging a dramatic re-enactment of the moment when the town’s earl was said to have invented the sandwich, to mark the 250th anniversary of the bread-based meal.

Dressed in 18th-century costume, actors today will recreate the night when John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich – a keen card-player – “called for a slice of beef between two toasted pieces of bread so that he could carry on gaming uninterrupted”, says a website for the event.

Legend states that others began asking for “the same as Sandwich” and thus named what was to become a classic foodstuff.

The southeastern English port town is also holding a sandwich-making competition and concerts of the bawdy and lively tunes favoured by the earl, who also had a penchant for dressing in Turkish robes.

The current earl will host a huge sandwich lunch in tribute to “the fourth earl of Sandwich who, 250 years ago, had his masterly inspiration in creating the universal fast food the world knows and loves”, a poster says.

Historians are sceptical of the claim that the earl invented the sandwich. They say it belongs to a long line of bread-based snacks stretching back much further than the 18th century, but this has not stopped the town from celebrating its local hero.