John Montague (1718-1792, pictured above) was the First Lord of the Admiralty for King George III, and was notorious for his corruption, mismanagement and, most of all, gambling. He was so addicted to this last pursuit that he would go from pub to pub, and club to club, in London, on card playing marathons which would last for days at a time. So involved did he become in these card games that he would ignore the hunger that would nag at him as the hours and days passed by. He refused to stop playing long enough to eat even a simple meal. Time spent away from the gaming tables was, in his opinion, wasted time.
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| Antique playing cards of Montague's day. |
Occasionally, he would order a plate of breads, meats and cheeses to be brought to his table for him to consume during a card game. He did not have the patience, however, to put down his cards and, using a knife and/or fork, eat, and then return to his gambling. He tried holding his cards in one hand and eating with the other, but this did not work for two reasons: one, it was considered rude and unmannerly for a “gentleman” to eat with his hands, and two, fat, grease and pieces of food got on his hands and were passed onto the cards as he played and his fellow players did not appreciate it.
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| "Don't get any food on the cards, John." |
Then, during a 24 hour gambling marathon in the year 1762, he came up with a solution to his problem. While playing cards he ordered pieces of meat placed between two slices of bread and delivered to his table. While holding his cards in one hand, and continuing to gamble, he could hold the bread and meat in the other and eat - thus satisfying, simultaneously, his urge to gamble and the need for food. For him, it was ideal. He need not leave the gaming table or use utensils to eat and lose precious time. His fellow gamblers also appreciated the fact that the cards were spared the indignity of becoming soiled with the remnants of his meal.
Fellow gamblers started ordering the same thing for themselves, and eventually they began to refer to this new item using the name of the man who invented it. For John Montague was an English nobleman, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. The “sandwich” had been born. This food could be quickly eaten by hand without fancy table manners or etiquette. Knives and forks, and plates and bowls, became obsolete with the concoction of the sandwich. This quick, efficient and timesaving culinary invention resulted entirely from one man’s obsession with spending as much uninterrupted time as possible at the gambling table.
However, the sandwich was not well-known in the U.S. until 1837 when a woman named Eliza Leslie wrote a cook book which included a recipe for “ham sandwiches” as a quick and convenient main dish for the evening meal (supper). But it was not until much later in the 19th century when soft white flour bread loaves became commonplace in the American diet that the sandwich became extremely popular. Modern times have given birth to a number of descendants of the original sandwich: the “submarine”, the “hoagy” and many others. By the 1920s white loaf bread had become known as “sandwich bread.” And when white bread could be bought sliced, beginning in 1928, the sandwich became even easier to make and more popular than ever.
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| 1948 Wonder Bread wrapper design. The man who owned the company that produced Wonder Bread got the idea for the iconic red, yellow and blue balloons as he drove along the highway in the 1920s and observed a hot air balloon race. To him it was an amazing sight, a "wonder." |
Duuring the Great Depression of the 1930s an odd variation on the sandwich appeared - the “brain sandwich.” With hard times came the practice of not wasting any part of an animal that could be eaten. Animal brains were often eaten with eggs, but in the saloons of St. Louis, Missouri, calf brains were either chopped up or sliced, fried, and served with pickles and onions on rye bread. The most popular sandwich among Americans is the ham sandwich. School children, however, prefer the peanut butter and jelly sandwich (“PBJ”) or, coming in at number two, the tuna fish sandwich.
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| The PBJ sandwich, an American icon. |
It was in honor of John Montague that Captain James Cook named a group of islands he found in the Pacific Ocean the “Sandwich Islands.” Montague was the First Lord of the Admiralty who helped sponsor Cook’s voyage. We know these islands today as “Hawaii”, our 50th state, or the Hawaiian Islands.
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| Captain James Cook. |
On his voyage of exploration in the Pacific Ocean, Captain Cook and his crew discovered south sea peoples who decorated their bodies with pigments of a permanent nature. These peoples considered these markings quite beautiful and significant. Some of Cook's sailors had some of these markings put upon their own bodies, and brought the idea back to England with them. The name we call these markings today, a "tatoo," is the name which the South sea islanders used to refer to the thing itself.
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| Tattooed south sea islander. |
This reminds me of a story told to me about pirates (who may have "discovered" tattoos long before Captain Cook and his men) who would hide treasure maps by tattooing them onto the shaven scalps of crew members and then, as the hair of the individuals grew back, they would be obscured from sight and hidden from view in a clever way. When they needed access to any of the maps they would shave the head of the sailor and follow the directions to the treasure. It makes a good story, and pirates could certainly have been clever enough to have done it, but is it true? It's a fun fact? Or a myth?
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| Pirate insignia, the "Jolly Roger." The word "jolly" meant brave, gallant, in the 1600s and "Roger" was part of criminal vernacular which meant "rogue." So the "Jolly Roger" flag stood for a ship full of brave and gallant rogues. However, most pirates did not fly this flag - why advertise your intentions? Pirates flew the flags of various nations: an English flag if approaching an English ship, for example. |
Connections are the "fun" for me in history, and my mind is non-linear, so bear with me on these last additions to this post. Back to the sandwich, and the PBJ being the favorite sandwich of American children. Peanuts were native to parts of the New World and were made by the Aztecs, for instance, into a bitter pasty substance. Peanut butter,as we know it today, was invented in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri, by an unknown physician (his name is "lost" to us) who was concerned about the nutritional well-being of his elderly patients who had no teeth, or very few of them. Without teeth they could certainly not eat meat or other foods which required considerable chewing. Their lack of nutritional intake was affecting their health. So, to provide these patients with both an edible and nutritious food, he began grinding peanuts into what we would now call a rough form of peanut butter.
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| George Washington only had a few teeth left in his mouth by the time he became President. He would have been a candidate for eating peanut butter. He wore dentures made of walrus tusks, hippopotamus teeth and elephant tusks. Paul Revere of Boston, Massachusetts, made them for him. |
Another version of this story gives credit for this 1890 "invention" of PB to a St. Louis physician named Dr. Ambrose Straub who went on to patent a peanut butter making machine in 1903. Take your pick. Whenever I find one story, I find another that contradicts it or gives more and/or different information. Here is an example. The Kellogg brothers of Battle Creek, Michigan, and George Washington Carver are both regularly given credit for the invention and/or development of peanut butter. Both have something to do with the history of peanut butter but are not the creators of the product.
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Peanut plant. The "nuts" grow underground and are not
really nuts, but a legume, related to beans and lentils.
Some more facts about peanut butter:
1) Americans spend $850 million a year on peanut butter.
2) Americans eat enough peanut butter in a year to make more than 10 billion PBJ sandwiches.
3) January 24th is designated as "National Peanut Butter Day."
4) Americans consume, on average, more than 6 lbs. of peanuts and peanut butter products per year.
5) It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12 oz. jar of peanut butter.
6) The peanut is not a nut but a legume related to beans and lentils.
7) The average child will eat 1,500 PBJ sandwiches before they graduate from high school.
8) Women and children prefer creamy PB, while men prefer chunky.
9) Peanut butter is consumed in 90% of U.S. households.
10) Two peanut farmers have been elected President: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
In conclusion, I should note that ground peanuts were used as food for Africans being brought to the New World as slaves. It was a cheap food which was highly nutritious. Ground peanuts, along with fish heads and entrails, left-overs from the Atlantic fishing industry, made up a significant part of the diet of transported enslaved Africans. This use of ground peanuts greatly pre-dates the aforementioned St. Louis, Missouri, doctor. It also comes well after the Aztecs devised the peanut paste I mentioned earlier.
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| Ground peanuts, fish heads and entrails. |
So that is how my mind works. From gambling to the sandwich, PBJ sandwiches, Captain Cook, tattoos and pirates, and the slave trade. They are all connected and a story that makes perfect sense to me. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think. But wait, there could be more! What about these items that are a part of the American culinary scene?
McDonald's TV ad, 1970s.
So now you know the answer to the question,
"What is the connection between gambling
and the sandwich?"
Some surveys claim that the Subway sandwich
has surpassed the McDonald's hamburger as
the country's favorite fast-food sandwich.
I leave these subjects to you. But remember, if it had not been for Sir John Montague and his gambling compulsion in the 18th century we might not enjoy the pleasures of either McDonalds's hamburgers or the subway "submarine" sandwich. Please think of the Earl of Sandwich next time you visit one of these establishments. If you have the time, please give this ten minute You Tube video a look. It's an interesting look at the history of the sandwich and how Americans have taken to it like no other people on Earth. Enjoy!
FINIS