Feeding a Nation On-The-Go: Sandwich Culture in the UK - Sophia Hadeka

Upon entering a new country, you’re bound to experience some culture shock; however, it’s not always unpleasant. In the case of British sandwich culture, I’ve found it quite palatable (ha). As soon as I arrived in the UK, I noticed every corner shop, grocery store, and pharmacy had a selection of pre-made sandwiches. At first, I was dubious of the little triangles gleaming through cellophane in their display cases. How can a premade sandwich be any good? Won’t it be soggy? How do I know it’s fresh? I wondered.

If not for the sheer ubiquity of these sandwiches, I never would’ve given them a chance. Alas, the egg & cresses, BLT’s, and ham and cheese toasties finally beckoned to me. You see, life moves fast in London; with ICLC classes meeting all over the city, the grab-and-go quality of a sandwich is pretty unbeatable. Much to my surprise, my first sandwich, ringing in at just over a pound, was delicious.

It wasn’t until further investigation that I realized how important, both culturally and economically, the sandwich is to the U.K. The sandwich industry here is worth £8 billion annually, equating to about 11.5 billion sandwiches sold every year. Many manufacturers have mastered sandwich making down to a science, even going so far as to engineer varieties of tomatoes with thicker cell walls to avoid sogging up a sandwich.

While the sandwich culture came as a shock to me, it has long had its place in the U.K. In fact, the sandwich was invented in 1762 by the Earl of Sandwich so he could carry on gambling while he ate; perhaps this gave precedent to the great sandwich-loving culture of London today. In sum, sandwiches fill our stomachs with convenience and familiarity, things that are not always easy to come by in our rapid-pace society.

Things I Do in London While Procrastinating – Zachary Ashcraft

There have been many changes to my environment and my routine since coming to London. Grocery shopping instead of a dining hall, taking public transportation to class and around the city instead of driving myself (I miss my car), and living with 6 other people comes with its own adaptations and sacrifices. Despite moving to another country and experiencing so many changes, there is one thing that snuck into my suitcase and came along with me: procrastination.

 

Now, this isn’t something new that I have discovered in London. Like I said, it’s something I knew very well in the states that followed me here. My procrastination hasn’t been so bad since starting classes, but it never is at first. The energy I save up over the summer allows me to focus pretty well for the first couple weeks of classes, but it runs out pretty quickly. And being in the middle of London doesn’t help either. Thus, this blog will be a chronicle of what I get up to while abroad while inevitably pushing back work I should probably be doing instead (if you are one of my professors and reading this – I'm sorry. I promise I’ll get the work done in a timely manner).

Since classes started last week, I have, for the most part, been able to blend together enjoying myself and getting work done. One day last week I didn’t have any obligations until a 2pm class, so I decided to spend my morning doing some work in Kensington Gardens. I sat just outside the palace gates and got a good amount of work done. It wasn’t a hot day, but it was definitely warm. However, I was sitting in the shade under a tree and it actually got quite cold with the breeze. When I finished my work, I had about an hour to relax before I needed to head to class, so I went out into a sunny part of the field and ate my lunch and laid on the grass listening to music. I was so relaxed in that moment that I could have stayed there for the entire 4 months and been completely content. Unfortunately, I apparently had forgotten that the sun can hurt me and I did not put on sunscreen to protect my ultra-sensitive skin. When I got to class I realized I had a very bright red sunburn on one side of my neck (the sun was ever so slightly in the west at the time and impacted one side of my body more than the other) and my face. Oh well, it faded after a couple days.

This past weekend I spent Saturday out and about pretty much the whole day. I took a stroll through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and didn’t realize how beautiful some of the hidden-away areas of the parks are. There is one area that is like a botanical garden; you can smell the flowers without even having to get your nose near them.

There was one area that was circular, outlined by hedges and benches with a fountain in the center topped by a statue of a man...wrestling a fish? Whatever it was, I liked it. The scene felt like something out of Alice in Wonderland when Alice goes to the garden, it was beautiful. I also saw the Princess Diana Fountain which, contrary to what you might believe at first thought, is not what you would think of as a conventional fountain. It looks more like a waterslide (a simile supported by all the children playing in it as I passed by. Should they be doing that? Probably not. Did they look like they were having fun? For sure, AND IT’S WHAT DIANA WOULD HAVE WANTED...MAYBE!).

  

I also saw a play after that which I am going to refrain from talking about here because I have to talk about theatre in almost all my classes and it’s not the goal of this blog. But it was a very intense play.

Wrapping up, I should also mention that I was lucky enough to attend one of the BBC Proms this past weekend as well, and I got a free upgrade into really amazing seats! Way better than the restricted view seats in the heavens, and I had a great time.