Last summer we were still in the grip of the pandemic and while the world is still not a Covid-free zone, things are slowly starting to return to some kind of normal. Which means a lot of the usual summer activities will resume such as visits to the park; days out to the beach, road trips and all sorts of outings that will most likely require people to bring a packed lunch. And that can only mean one thing - sandwiches!
It was a craving for salad sandwiches - something I haven't had since I was about six - that got me thinking about all those old-school sandwiches that we don't seem to indulge in as much as we used to (yeah, I probably do have too much time on my hands!) Although a lot of 'classics' are still around - cucumber; prawn mayonnaise; egg salad; cheese and pickle; peanut butter and jelly etc. - take a look at sandwiches on sale today and there's a whole array of swanky fillings: tricolore; crayfish and mango; avocado and pine nut salad; tuna and spicy tomato salsa... And then there's the million types of bread that's used, including tortillas and other flatbreads. Back in the day it was usually just regular sliced bread, and being fancy meant using bread of the brown or whole-meal variety!
We take a look at five sandwich fillings that many a child of the seventies, eighties and nineties could be found tucking into at lunch time (or maybe it was just me!)
1. SALAD
When I say salad, I don't mean cheese salad, or ham salad, or prawn salad... I really do mean just salad. So it really would be a vegan's dream come true! I remember my little five year old self thinking how badass I was because I thought I was the inventor of the great salad sandwich. I'd certainly never seen one before or even heard of anyone else having them. That was until I heard a fellow five year old classmate tell 'Miss' that his dad had made salad sandwiches for lunch - which kind of burst my bubble a little bit!
Back in the eighties a salad sandwich would have simply consisted of lettuce, cucumber and tomato. With perhaps a bit of raw onion. Today a salad sandwich would be much more zhuzhed up than that with an array of ingredients including avocado, rocket, pickled and marinated veggies etc. With some chilli flakes thrown in for good measure!
I recently succumbed to the temptation of the good old salad sarnies I used to indulge in when I was a kid. And while I admit it did need some salt and pepper to give it more of a kick, it was very satisfying; definitely hit the spot and I felt so much healthier. Who would have thought something so simple could be so good?
2. BANANA
Before the age of eight, I used to balk at the idea of banana sandwiches as I just couldn't see how that was a 'thing'. (I also used to balk at the idea of pineapple on pizza. I still do - but that's a whole other story!) However it was at the garden party thrown by my parish, to celebrate us having made our first communion, where I encountered for the first time the infamous banana sandwich - and life was never the same again! Slightly sweetened, mashed banana, spread between two slices of regular sliced white - it tasted like heaven so it was just as well our parish church put banana sandwiches on the menu! And far from being bizarre, it was actually quite delicious and made perfect sense. Let's just say over the years, I've had more than my fair share of banana sarnies! Or should I say... banarnies!!!
I don't think I've had the basic banana sandwich since childhood but I've had a lot of elevated versions of the humble banana sandwich. I've had them toasted; made with different types of bread; fried in butter; with chocolate spread; had the stuffed French toast version... oh and then there were the Elvis sandwiches! While visiting The Man, who was then living in the Pacific North-West, I read that Elvis Presley not only loved fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches (now affectionately known as the Elvis sandwich) but he used to eat sixteen of them in one sitting! As it sounded absolutely delicious, greedy-guts me thought it would be quite easy to demolish a plate of Elvis sandwiches and to prove my point, I made sixteen Elvis sandwiches... and could only manage two! But at least I had breakfast ready for the next few days!
3. FISH FINGERS
Until I saw John Torode create a fabulous looking fish finger sandwich on This Morning about a year ago, I really thought that the fish finger sandwich was my mum's own invention, as I really didn't know anyone else who made fish finger sandwiches. It was pretty much a staple in our house, especially for breakfast. But whereas John made the fish finger filling from scratch, we just made do with Bird's Eye fish fingers straight out of the freezer section! Not that we minded though. But there were times I took fish finger sandwiches to school as part of my packed lunch, and was met with some odd looks at lunch time:
"What's in your sandwich?"
"Fish fingers."
"Fish fingers?"
"With ketchup."
"Never heard of a fish finger sandwich before."
Well they have now! I also remember there was a novel, it could have been Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (but don't quote me on that!) where the protagonist talks about a little girl who was so poor that she came to school with fish finger sandwiches made from the fish fingers leftover from her breakfast. And one day there were no fish fingers, so she just had ketchup sandwiches. Well I can assure everyone that even though we didn't grow up with very much money, that was not the reason why we scoffed fish finger sandwiches. They really were delicious and as I write this, I have a severe craving for them now!
I don't think I've had a fish finger sandwich since my teen years, and as I left home a long time ago, I haven't had my mum make me one in ages. But what's there to stop me from making them myself? Absolutely nothing! Frozen fish fingers, or fish sticks seeing as I'm State-side - will be going back on the shopping list!
4. CHIP BUTTY
Who couldn't like a good chip butty? Yes, it's carb overload but it's sooo good and definitely something I crave after a good night out. Some of us will remember making chip butties: hot, fat chips - NEVER fries - in between two thick slices of bread or in a roll, with a bit of salt and pepper and a some ketchup. Beautiful! Even though we are well aware that Mr. Oliver wouldn't approve it definitely hits the spot every time.
For my non-British followers who aren't sure what a delightful-sounding 'butty' is, well in short it's a colloquial term for a sandwich which stems from the north of England (the southern version is 'sarnie.') The bread was generally slathered in butter - hence the word 'butty' - before a hot filling was added such as chips, bacon, sausage, or a fried egg. But anything could be a 'butty' provided it was placed between two slices of bread, so don't be surprised if people talk about munching on cheese butties; mashed potato butties; savoury pie butties; jam butties; golden syrup butties; condensed milk butties... That's a whole lot of butties! And no - I didn't make up those fillings!
The all-important chip butty was what most of us teens used to classify as a filling lunchtime snack. Or an anytime snack for that matter. And if it wasn't a chip butty we made do with it's cousin, the crisp sandwich. As you can see, nutrition wasn't really high on most people's list of priorities! Nowadays, however, I don't see people gorge on chip butties like they used to. Perhaps that's down to people turning towards more healthier eating habits. But those in need of a bit of comfort food, can't go far wrong with chip-shop style chips in between two slices of thick bread, smothered in melted butter. Purists may forgo the salt and vinegar and other condiments but for me, it's a welcome addition!
I reckon if you combine chip butties with number three on this list, you may well end up with the perfect sandwich!
5. PASTE
I have to be honest here, I'm pretty sure in my life, I've had sandwiches filled with some kind of paste less than a handful of times - and even then it was at school or some kind of event. We never made them at home. But I do know that they were very popular during the years in which I was growing up, and were even more so long before then.
What exactly are these pastes I speak of? Well simply put, it's poor man's pate! They are sold in little jars and there are various kinds of sandwich paste: tuna; salmon; beef, the ever so exotic sardine and tomato... Many of these meat and fish pastes still exist. No one I know indulges in fish or meat paste sandwiches - and if they do, they're keeping very quiet about it. But a glance at supermarket shelves, and a look on forum boards, tells us that people are still scoffing them. But opinion seems to be mixed. Some believe they taste every bit as good as when they were kids; others believe they taste pretty grim now, while there are some who don't mind them, but only have a paste sandwich when nostalgia takes over.
Though I did come across an interesting tip, and that was to try fish or meat pastes on hot buttered toast, as they tasted so much better warm than cold. Might give that a go!
Did you ever scoff any of the above sandwiches back in the day? Do you still eat them now? What's your favourite retro sandwich?
Photos: Angel Noire and Wix
Word cloud: Angel Noire
I love prawns so it's got to be a classic prawn mayonnaise.
I grew up on a lot of jelly, PB&J, and bologna sandwiches as did a lot of kids back then. These days I like an avocado salad on gluten-free bread.
You can keep your fancy, trendy sandwiches! Cheese and pickle. Branston's of course. But on a cold day, you can't beat a good sausage sandwich with brown sauce or a bacon sarnie with ketchup. As much as I love living here in America, when it comes to bacon and sausages, that's something us Brits do best!
It won't come as a surprise to know that this northern girl couldn't get enough of gravy and chip butties as a teen! But these days my eating habits have changed a lot so it's an avo and tomato sandwich everytime! :)
I remember an issue of Smash Hits back in the eighties where they were asking celebs about their fave sandwich. Kylie's was chocolate! I'm a choco-fiend but even I thought that was odd. Mind you that was before the days of Nutella and now we're all choc butty mad!