(no subject)
I had one of those "I love my job" moments on Thursday.
Two students, generally two who sit in the back of the library and goof off came up to the desk. "Mr. Smiley," they asked, "Can you settle something for us? Does something have to be on bread to be a sandwich?" I got the impression that there had been considerable debate before hand.
First I addressed the word sandwich itself. I pointed out that sandwich is both a noun and a verb. The verb sandwich means just putting one thing between two others, and we had to consider if anything that has been sandwiched is a sandwich. They liked that answer. However, referring to the specific food item, we had to take a narrower definition. A layered cake is not a sandwich, even though it is frosting between two layers of baked goods. A fried egg between two pork chops may be delicious, but is not a sandwich.
However, further complicating things is the "open faced sandwich" which does not feature things between slices of bread but on top of bread. However, it does often come with two slices, even if there is no stacking involved.
After discussing this a bit, I turned to the interwebs which revealed an incredibly interesting piece of information: The courts have weighted in on this. Recently. It seems a Panera bread location sued their shopping center for trying to rent out another shopfront to a Qdoba. The panera had language in their contract stipulating that the shopping center not rent out space to any other sandwich shops, and believed that burritos, as they are served on a tortilla, qualified as a sandwich. I think I've been inside a panera once in my entire life, but I think I recall that they do sell wrap sandwiches, which are not entirely unlike burritos. Qdoba went so far as to get a sworn affidavit from none other than the East Coast Grille's Chris Schlesinger - the creator of Pasta From Hell and a chef you most definitely do not want to fuck with (not to say he's not a nice guy, he gave me a free beer once, but his culinary knowledge should not be challenged unless you want to find habaneros in unpleasant places) - to bolster their case. Faced with such culinary authority, the courts ruled (rightly, in my opinion) that a burrito was not a sandwich.
My students did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of such a ruling, but I printed out the following article for their records: http://tinyurl.com/y4ws4b
And speaking of Chris Schlesinger, it is time, once again, for that magnificent display of culinary masochism, Hell night. I've got my seats reserved. I'm hoping they keep the Hell Oysters and Wings of Ass Destruction on the menu, those were probably the best things we had all night. But we shall see.
Two students, generally two who sit in the back of the library and goof off came up to the desk. "Mr. Smiley," they asked, "Can you settle something for us? Does something have to be on bread to be a sandwich?" I got the impression that there had been considerable debate before hand.
First I addressed the word sandwich itself. I pointed out that sandwich is both a noun and a verb. The verb sandwich means just putting one thing between two others, and we had to consider if anything that has been sandwiched is a sandwich. They liked that answer. However, referring to the specific food item, we had to take a narrower definition. A layered cake is not a sandwich, even though it is frosting between two layers of baked goods. A fried egg between two pork chops may be delicious, but is not a sandwich.
However, further complicating things is the "open faced sandwich" which does not feature things between slices of bread but on top of bread. However, it does often come with two slices, even if there is no stacking involved.
After discussing this a bit, I turned to the interwebs which revealed an incredibly interesting piece of information: The courts have weighted in on this. Recently. It seems a Panera bread location sued their shopping center for trying to rent out another shopfront to a Qdoba. The panera had language in their contract stipulating that the shopping center not rent out space to any other sandwich shops, and believed that burritos, as they are served on a tortilla, qualified as a sandwich. I think I've been inside a panera once in my entire life, but I think I recall that they do sell wrap sandwiches, which are not entirely unlike burritos. Qdoba went so far as to get a sworn affidavit from none other than the East Coast Grille's Chris Schlesinger - the creator of Pasta From Hell and a chef you most definitely do not want to fuck with (not to say he's not a nice guy, he gave me a free beer once, but his culinary knowledge should not be challenged unless you want to find habaneros in unpleasant places) - to bolster their case. Faced with such culinary authority, the courts ruled (rightly, in my opinion) that a burrito was not a sandwich.
My students did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of such a ruling, but I printed out the following article for their records: http://tinyurl.com/y4ws4b
And speaking of Chris Schlesinger, it is time, once again, for that magnificent display of culinary masochism, Hell night. I've got my seats reserved. I'm hoping they keep the Hell Oysters and Wings of Ass Destruction on the menu, those were probably the best things we had all night. But we shall see.