Poor Man Sandwiches

I grew up in a solid middle-class household, but my parents were children of the Depression.  My mother knew how to work a budget.  She was a good cook and we had solid, wholesome meals but there were echoes of her own childhood in the menu.  Of course, at the time, I thought nothing of it.  A bologna sandwich was just a bologna sandwich.  I now recognize it as an artifact of her youth.  

I also grew up internationally, living in many developing nations or developed nations still less than a generation away from the carnage and devastation of World War II when food budgets were tightly constrained.  Different cultures, different times, different circumstances.

We lived in Sweden for a chunk of my childhood and the expatriate community was extremely diverse.  One of my good friends was a Korean classmate.  We were back and forth between our homes a number of times though we lived across the city from one another.  I recall my surprise walking into his kitchen the first time.  Hanging over the hot water radiator in the kitchen was a long dried fish.  We had come from school and first thing he did was walk over and peel a strip of dried fish off and started munching.  That was his after-school snack.   

I count 37 sandwiches discussed in the video.  Of these, there are thirteen which I enjoyed with some frequency as a child (and occasionally still as an adult.)

Another dozen or so I have heard or knew friends who enjoyed them in their homes but I did not eat them as a child.  

More than a dozen of these I have not heard of but some of them seem mere variations.  For example, we used to eat fish sticks when I lived in England.  But not fish stick sandwiches.  

Here's the list of sandwiches mentioned.

Bologna sandwich - I ate these routinely as a child on four different continents.  

Bread and Butter sandwich - I have had these a number of times but it was not part of our home cooking tradition.  In Denmark, I had a version with thin dark chocolate slivers between the bread and butter.  The bitter chocolate and sweet/salty butter taste actually works.  

Mayonnaise and banana sandwich - No.  

Onion sandwich - Heard of it but no.  I didn't like onions as a child but this sounds pretty good as an adult.  

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich - A staple of childhood and my go-to meal when I graduated to fixing my own school lunches.  I think by sixth grade I was responsible for fixing my own school lunches.  I did a lot of experimentation.  

Ketchup sandwich - I didn't have it but I think it was one of my sisters who loved this.  My wife thrived on mustard sandwiches.

Lard sandwich - No.

Cucumber sandwich - Yes.  I still enjoy them on rare occasions.  I think of these primarily as an English tradition.  

Tomato sandwich - Yes.  Favorite of my father's and I used to enjoy them as well.

Peanut butter and pickle sandwich - Odd.  This was not part of my mother's repertoire but I came up with a variation of this as part of my experimentations for my own school brown bag lunches that I fixed myself.  It was actually Wasa bread with slices of sharp cheese topped with scattered roasted peanuts and a couple of slices of pickle and then the whole thing toasted in the oven.  I quite enjoyed this for two or three years.  

Tuna salad sandwich - A staple which lives on and is still enjoyed.

Fried spam sandwich - Yes.  Enjoyed this as a child.  

Egg and sardine sandwich - Heard of it but we never ate it.  We weren't much on seafood.

Bacon and peanut butter sandwich - No

Mayonnaise and onion sandwich - No but sounds good.

Bread and milk sandwich - No.

Chicken salad sandwich - Definitely.

Mock chicken sandwich - No.

Ham and cheese sandwich - Definitely.

Chicken liver sandwich - No.

Anchovy paste sandwich - No.

Curried sardine salad sandwiches - No.  Knew of it as a dish and had an occasional version at friends' homes.

Monte Cristo sandwich - Have had it but not by that name.  Friends houses.

Olive Loaf sandwich - I had forgotten about this completely.  In our household it was a passing fancy.  Probably did not eat it for more than a year or two.  Sounds kind of repellant now, but I recall liking it.

Sloppy Joes - An occasional item, mostly because one of my sisters was especially fond of them.

Ravioli sandwiches - No.

Creamed corn sandwich - No.

Macaroni and cheese loaf sandwich - No.

Deviled ham sandwich - No.

Corned beef tongue sandwich - Corned beef sandwich; yes.  Corned beef tongue sandwich; No.

Tongue sandwich - Heard of it but never had it.

Spam and pineapple sandwich - No.

Victory sandwich - No.

Fish Stick sandwiches - No.

Potted meat sandwich - Heard of them but no.

Turkey and cranberry sandwich - Not often.

Cheese dream sandwich - Grilled cheese sandwich.  Yes and still.