3 Iconic Sandwiches From Around The World

My Instagram algorithm recently decided that I needed to know more about sandwiches, and, annoyingly enough, it was right. I figured you do too, so here’s a serving of three particularly interesting examples from around the world.

Do you know how sometimes your Instagram algorithm picks one specific thing to highlight for whatever reason and, for the next few days, that’s all you see? Well, mine recently took a break from brainrot to start recommending me sandwiches of all things.

And, as is often the case, and mighty scarily I might add, the algorithm seems to know what you’d been interested in before you’re even aware that you’d be interested in it. Anyway, the slow surrender of our autonomy to algorithms aside, I was actually interested in the sandwiches, and here are a few neat ones that I discovered along the way.

Bocadillo de Calamares

First up, we have the bocadillo de calamares, and this is a very confusing sandwich when you stop to think about it. The sandwich itself is incredibly simple, consisting of a crusty Spanish baguette stuffed with rings of squid that have been battered and fried.

It seems almost too rudimentary, and also feels wrong somehow to have something so breaded between slices of, well, bread. But it just so happens to be one of Madrid’s most beloved street foods, despite Madrid being about as far from the sea as you can get in Spain.

The squid is fried sans pretense, absent of any unusual spices or accoutrements that would render it particularly noteworthy. It can be eaten as is, or with a squirt of mayonnaise or alioli added for a bit of richness, which is just as well because, in my opinion, it could definitely use some.

I’ve heard it’s pretty good, though, so if you ever find yourself in a bustling Madrid square, you’d probably best be served just grabbing one and not asking too many questions about it. When in Rome and all that.

Chivito

Alright, pivoting from something that seems almost too simple, we now have something that’s borderline unnecessarily complicated. Uruguayans are known to be more laid-back and reserved when compared to their louder, more expressive Latin American brethren, and it’s perhaps this placidity that has driven them to express their latent chaos in the form of a sandwich.

And so we have the chivito, which seems to start off normally enough with a thin slice of grilled beef, before going off the rails, doing a couple of barrel rolls, and then crashing into the living rooms of several different houses in the vicinity. You’ll find ham, melted mozzarella, bacon, tomato, lettuce, mayonnaise, olives, and eggs showing up to the party, all stretching its soft bun encasement to its absolute limits.

There are variations, naturally, and some versions come with even more ingredients, because look, apparently it just does, okay? It gives me the vibe of a bunch of Uruguayans who couldn’t decide what to have for dinner, before realising that they don’t actually have to choose. Then, in an even more expansive exercise of their free will, they decided that they’re going to put all their options between some bread to boot, because who’s going to stop them? I’m certainly not, my Uruguayan friends. Shine on you crazy diamonds.

Smørrebrød

If the Uruguayans sought to stuff as much as they can in between two slices of bread, the Danes thought they’d spare themselves the headache and put all their stuff on just the one piece of bread instead. The foundation of this open-faced sandwich is a slice of dense, dark rye bread called rugbrød, which is then topped with all manner of ingredients, spanning from cured herring and smoked salmon to roast beef, liver pâté, cheese, pickles, and herbs.

They’re not just shoving everything on there, though, with everything that goes on the sandwich arranged according to a certain traditional method. It’s a whole affair that takes into account the different combinations and the ways of assembling them depending on what’s going on top. It’s carefully thought out, and the result sometimes winds up almost too pretty to eat.

And there you have it, three very different conceptions of what sandwiches can be, and proof that we’re all the richer for our differences and should celebrate them instead of letting them come between us. Also, if the algorithm is going to use my personal data to recommend me things like this, then maybe I’m not going to fight so hard for my sovereignty after all. What can I say? The machines are making a fairly compelling case for themselves.

Opening image: Elle Hughes | Pexels