Phagomania: The Year of the Sandwich
Fresh from a televised appearance plugging our Food & Drink Survey, Phagomania feels the need to follow up on some claims – namely, is the sandwich really back?
Against a tide of burgers, pulled pork, mac cheese and dawgs, the comparatively dainty and humble British sarnie has had a bit of a hard time of late. But sandwiches featured profusely in the On-The-Go category in this year’s Food Survey, prompting your columnist to proclaim on local TV that "the sandwich is back." Luckily, the sandwich does seem to be on the upswing, and is cropping up elsewhere in the media with pleasing regularity. In what was clearly the biggest food news highlight of last month, a Belfast shop entitled ‘Simply Crispy’ took the accolade of ‘world’s first crisp sandwich shop,’ reportedly selling out within two hours of opening and showing those cereal cafe upstarts how you run a single-issue joke venue. Isolated brilliance you say? Swiftly following suit, a bakery in Bristol launched a menu of crisp sandwiches, becoming the UK’s second crisp sandwich shop. They're everywhere, we tell you, everywhere!
But where can the sandwich go from here? In case you sensed a prejudice against US cuisine with that 'tide of burgers…' remark, we got in touch with a New Yorker who has been flying the flag for sandwiches as works of art. Sandwiches, or, to use Jon Chonko’s terminology, 'scanwiches.' Jon started a blog scanning sandwiches – yes, that’s right, placing his severed lunch upon a computer scanner – which has progressed into a published book of his culinary artworks.
With a delightful backstory, this odd project took off during his workplace’s ritualistic lunchtime sandwich munching. Despite being in the global sandwich hotspot that is New York's Soho, Jon acknowledges: “I didn't take advantage of these places. I got the same sandwich (a BLT) from the same deli for lunch every day.”
In an effort to break this lunchtime monotony, it was the lightbulb moment of making a creative project out of scanning sandwiches that kick-started Jon’s tastebuds. Jon forced himself “to explore the neighbourhood and the city's options more thoroughly.” He reflects: “Scanwiches really helped push me out of my food comfort zone... that was a good thing.”
A perusal of his website, or indeed his book, finds hundreds of sandwiches sitting against black backgrounds like some unreported phase of Mark Rothko's work, all of which are scanned and then eaten for Jon’s lunches. But what part of this set-up is it that lures so many viewers in?
“I think people just love sandwiches,” Jon projects. “They are one of the first meals people learn to make for themselves.” He then deliberates on a more cerebral view: “They're also so tied up in identity. Sandwiches can be associated with different cultures, regions, and traditions. They also are individual to a person's personality, and preferences can be reflected in sandwich more easily than a lot of other foods. Hold the mayo, no pickles, extra ketchup, etc.” Jon concludes that “people like to see themselves in sandwiches and think about the memories or emotions they evoke.”
Jon also has a theory on the compelling impact of the scanned images. “It puts it at eye-level in a way that feels like a view that you would have right before you take a bite.” We can’t say we’ve thought that much about it – and we went on TV and proclaimed 2015 as the year of the sandwich – but we are inclined to agree with Jon that the good old sandwich is everything to everyone. So go forth and create, sandwich-lovers – now is your time!