The word sandwich that we use today was born in London
during the very late hours one night in 1762 when an English nobleman, John
Montagu (1718-1792), the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, was too busy gambling to stop
for a meal even though he was hungry.
The legend goes that he ordered a waiter
to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to
continue his gambling while eating his snack; and from that incident, we have
inherited that quick-food product that we now know as the sandwich. He apparently had the
meat put on slices of bread so he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy while he was
playing cards.
It’s strange that the name of this fiend should have gone down
in history connected to such an innocent article of diet.
