📚 National Sandwich Day: A Lesson in History and Creativity
Here is a lesson plan incorporating factoids, history, and writing prompts for National Sandwich Day, which is celebrated annually on November 3rd.
🥪 Factoids & History
National Sandwich Day celebrates one of the world’s most popular and versatile meals.
Key Factoids
- The Date: National Sandwich Day is observed every year on November 3rd.
- A Birthday Celebration: November 3rd is the birthday of the sandwich’s namesake, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (born in 1718).
- The Name: While people have been eating food between bread for centuries, the term “sandwich” is attributed to the Earl.
- Global Appetite: Americans eat an estimated 300 million sandwiches every day.
- Largest Sandwich: The world’s largest sandwich weighed 5,440 pounds!
- Anatomy of a Sandwich: In the United States, a Boston court once ruled that to be legally considered a “sandwich,” the food must contain at least two slices of bread.
A Bite of History
- The Man, The Myth: John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, was reportedly a very dedicated gambler in 18th-century England. Legend says that in 1762, he was so engrossed in a 24-hour card game that he asked his servants to bring him slices of cold meat between two pieces of bread. This allowed him to eat without a fork and without leaving the table or getting grease on his cards.
- A Name is Born: His fellow gamblers started asking for “the same as Sandwich,” and the convenient meal quickly became known simply as a “sandwich.”
- Older Than Its Name: The concept of using bread to hold food is ancient. For example, Jewish Rabbi Hillel the Elder in the 1st century B.C. created a passover custom of putting lamb, nuts, and herbs between two pieces of unleavened bread. The Earl didn’t invent the food, but he gave it its enduring name!
- American Icons: Sandwiches didn’t appear in an American cookbook until 1815. Since then, the U.S. has created many iconic sandwiches, including the Philly Cheesesteak, the Reuben, the Sloppy Joe, and the New Orleans Po’ Boy.
📝 Writing Prompts
Use the following prompts for creative writing, descriptive paragraphs, or persuasive essays.
The Creative Sandwich
- The Secret Ingredient: Write a short story where a seemingly ordinary sandwich contains a magical or extraordinary secret ingredient. What happens when your main character takes the first bite?
- The Life of a Sandwich Artist: Imagine you are a person who makes the perfect sandwich for a living. Describe your day, your philosophy on bread, and the most unusual order you have ever received.
- A Sandwich’s Perspective: Write a story from the point of view of a sandwich. What are its thoughts and feelings as it is being made, wrapped up, and finally chosen for lunch? Does it dread the fate of being eaten?
Descriptive and Persuasive Writing
- Describe Your Masterpiece: Describe your ultimate, perfect sandwich using vivid sensory details. Describe the sound of the bread crust, the texture of the filling, the aroma, and the final taste. Be so descriptive that your reader can almost taste it!
- The Unofficial Sandwich Rules: Argue for or against the statement: “A hot dog is a sandwich.” Define what you believe truly constitutes a sandwich (shape, ingredients, number of bread slices, etc.) and use these criteria to support your argument.
- The Hero Sandwich: If you had to eat only one type of sandwich for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why? Write a persuasive paragraph to convince a friend that your choice is the absolute best.
Download the PDF Lessons Here!