Ham sandwich

Ham sandwich

Type	Sandwich
Main ingredients	2 Pieces of Sliced Bread, Sliced ham
Cookbook: Ham sandwich  Media: Ham sandwich

Ham sandwiches prepared with toasted bread

A ham sandwich served with vegetables

The ham sandwich is a common type of sandwich.^[1] The bread may be buttered or toasted.

History

The ham sandwich is one of the earliest recorded closed-face sandwiches; by 1850, at least 70 London street vendors offered it.^[2] In 18th-century Britain the sandwich was still closely associated with Spanish cuisine, which (considering the especially wide consumption of ham in Spain) may suggest that sandwiches with ham were preferred at that time as well. There were also records of "closed face sandwiches on Melrose St. In Providence RI in the 1850s

Consumption

The British Sandwich Association says that the ham sandwich is the most sold sandwich in the UK,^[3] and a survey they conducted in 2001 saw ham as the second favourite filling behind cheese.^[4] 70% of the 1.8 billion sandwiches eaten in France in 2008 were ham sandwiches, prompting a French economic analysis firm to begin a 'jambon-beurre index', like the Big Mac Index, to compare prices across the country.^[5] Most ham sandwiches sold in the UK are processed, using formed ham and bread made using the Chorleywood Bread Process.^{[6] [7]}

The world's longest ham sandwich was created by butcher Nico Jimenez 2009 in Pamplona, Spain.^[8]

Health

The World Cancer Research Fund warned in 2009 against parents feeding their children too many ham sandwiches, due to the risk of bowel cancer from the processed meat.^[9][10]

A ham sandwich was suspected of causing an outbreak of swine fever in the UK in 2000.^[11]

Cultural impact

New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler was famously quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Bonfire of the Vanities that "a grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what you wanted."^[12][13]

A fictional talking ham sandwich appeared in an online noir serial in the late 1990s, and the publishers sued in 1999 when a similar character appeared in a television advertisement for Florida orange juice, though the suit was withdrawn.^[14][15]

The name "ham sandwich" is sometimes used (particularly by the New Orleans Police Department) to refer to a firearm planted at a crime scene by police as false evidence.^[16][17][18]

Before her autopsy revealed a heart attack, it was thought that Mama Cass died from choking on a ham sandwich, as she was laying on the couch with food on the table when she was found dead.

See also

• Ham and cheese sandwich
• List of sandwiches

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ham sandwiches.