May sees the return of British Sandwich Week, a week’s “celebration of the greatest food-to-go and quite possibly the most iconic British culinary invention”.1 But considering that as a nation we are already scoffing around 11.5 bn sandwiches a year and buying 3.5 bn of those,1 should we really be eating more? Or is it time for the sandwich to move over?
Sandwiches (sarnies, butties... they have so many names) are big business. The UK sandwich industry alone is worth around £8 bn per annum, and even has its own awards, appropriately called The Sammies.
In 1980, high street retailer Marks and Spencer, which had experimented with selling sandwiches back in 1929, tried again. This time the idea took off, and today we can buy sandwiches in pharmacists (Boots the Chemist soon followed in M&S’ footsteps), petrol stations, and newsagents — places where, before the butty boom, it would have been unheard of to buy food. If we want, we can buy a sandwich for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and can even have them seasonally-themed. Last winter, several food chains advertised Christmas-themed sandwiches so that if we couldn’t wait for Christmas day, we could get into training with turkey and stuffing-filled sandwiches, baps and wraps.
Shop-bought sandwiches have liberated us from the drudgery of having to prepare our own lunch. They are convenient, quick, and allow us to eat without having to think about anything other than filling a gap.
But have we become victims of the sandwich’s success?
In 2016, a study which reviewed the eating habits of more than 27,000 American adults found that sandwich consumption was associated with an increase in daily calorie intake by 98.7 kcal.2 So should we be concerned?
“I think the problem really comes when you’re reaching for those pre-packaged sandwiches which are made using white bread, lashings of sauces and processed fillings,” says Angelique Panagos, a registered nutritionist and author of The Balance Plan. “These sandwiches are pretty nutrient-poor and can spike blood sugars, meaning you’ll crash and burn later on.”
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Denne historien er fra Spring 2018-utgaven av Optimum Nutrition.
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