Celebrating the 250th birthday of the sandwich

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This year marks the 250th anniversary of the sandwich. After more than two centuries we now have things like the KFC Double Down that uses two pieces of chicken instead of bread, the Double Bypass burger featuring five slices of bacon, four slices of cheese, two fried eggs, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onion between two grilled cheese sandwiches.

The sanger has come a long way since its early days when it was just a piece of salted meat and two slices of bread.

GALLERY: Outrageous food from around the world

Though debate still exists on the originator of the sandwich, it was named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He loved to play cards and gamble and often ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread so his hands wouldn’t get greasy during the game. Others began to order “the same as Sandwich” and thus the name was born.

A sandwich generally consists of two or more pieces of bread with one or more fillings between them. Clearly KFC’s Double Down doesn’t quite pass that test.

A court in Boston actually ruled that a “sandwich” includes at least two slices of bread and thus ruled out burritos, tacos and quesadillas as being sandwiches.

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Sandwiches have a number of different forms and names around the world such as hamburgers, hoagies, grinders, heroes, double roti, cubans, banh mi, bocadillos, francesinha, buttys, sarnies and, in Australia, sangers.

The sandwich is the ultimate convenience food and companies make billions of dollars from them every year. Most sandwiches are centered around meat but staples like grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are still extremely popular.

As a way to celebrate 250 glorious years of the transformations the simple sandwich has gone through, here is a list of some of the most outrageous.

The Canwich:
Aimed at pre-school, camping and construction worker demographics, this convenience food comes in three different flavours. Peanut butter and strawberry jelly, peanut butter and grape jelly and BBQ chicken. Apparently plans for Pepperoni Pizza and French Toast Candwiches are in the works.

The Luther Burger:
Also known as the doughnut burger. The Luther burger is a hamburger or cheeseburger with one or more glazed doughnuts used as the bun. The burger is served at a ballpark in Illinois, a restaurant in Queens, NY, and numerous state fairs.

The Bogan Burger:
The Napier Hotel in Melbourne serves a pretty hefty burger complete with steak, chicken schnitzel, caramelized onions, cheese, pineapple, beetroot, egg, potato cake, bacon, lettuce and tomato with wedges and salad.

The Gift Sandwich:
This beautifully presented sandwich features twenty-four slices of ham.

For more crazy sandwiches, check out our gallery:

GALLERY: Outrageous food from around the world

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