Love Bite: In the Pocket of Big Sandwich

Words: Lauren O’Neill

Make it stand out

It’s an understatement to say that social media has made eating into an aesthetic pursuit, and there’s no food that has had more of a glow-up courtesy of social media than the humble sandwich. Where once that word might have immediately conjured images of sad packets under supermarket fluorescents, or the Tupperwares that would fester at the bottom of your school backpack because you wanted chips instead, these days it’s basically shorthand for an entire art form. 

You’ll have seen the photos of perfect sandwich cross sections on Instagram, these creations sliced neatly down the middle to reveal layers and layers of fillings – Italian deli meats folded in on themselves like luxurious bed sheets; blushing red tomatoes, slices on slices of pink salt beef, pickle discs, smatterings of sauerkraut, and maybe even some matchstick fries if it’s a real Frankenstein’s monster. 

It’s not really surprising that sandwiches are so big (and so Big) online, because the aim of the game when it comes to the algorithm is to stop a scroller in their tracks – and there’s little that can do that better than a truly outrageous looking sarnie. But can that explain everything? Why exactly are we so in the pocket of Big Sandwich, and how did something so simple as bread and fillings basically become a status symbol?
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The weirdest thing about sandwiches in 2024 is that they’re cool. While nobody has ever venerated a tuna and sweetcorn between dry bread, curling a bit at the edges, these days a big old sandwich can be as much a status symbol as a pair of trainers. I talk about this a lot in Love Bite, but really the key to all of this is the fact that food has become a shareable lifestyle factor, and so certain foods become as aspirational as clothes or holidays. 

I think Big Sandwiches – and when I say “Big Sandwiches” I mean big, American style deli subs, or the type of door stop bread wedges you see stuffed full of filling – have become so in demand, particularly in the UK, because they hit on the same Americana trend as Harley Davidson t-shirts or old racecar merch. It’s no coincidence that their emergence has come after the big Sopranos revival of 2020 – when everyone used lockdown to finally get around to watching the TV show deemed the best of all time, where huge sandwiches packed to bursting with gabagool, mortadella and stracciatella are a staple of the characters’ diet. It’s an example of how food has become part of a generalised lifestyle aesthetic. Traders are responding to the demand. 

“While nobody has ever venerated a tuna and sweetcorn between dry bread, curling a bit at the edges, these days a big old sandwich can be as much a status symbol as a pair of trainers.”

Over the last couple of years, sandwich spots have popped up all over London in particular – Bristol’s Sandwich Sandwich recently landed to sling out absolute bricks comprised of literally everything you could feasibly fit between two slices of bread, while chef Max Halley has dedicated himself entirely to the craft of the sandwich with the huge but admittedly brilliantly balanced creations that come out of his north London store. East London is covered by the very New York-y Dom’s Subs, while south London is about to get a brand new, dedicated sandwich shop by Mondo Sando, next door to another cult favourite, Toad Bakery.

Indeed, the demand for sandwiches is so rife that there are some spots (like Crystal Palace’s Chatsworth Bakehouse) where the only way to get your hands on one is to pre-order for pickup days in advance. Don’t know what you’re going to want to eat next Thursday? Doesn’t matter – if you don’t log on and secure (and pay for!) your sarnie ahead of time, as though you were buying a gig ticket, you’re simply not getting one. In some ways, it’s kind of just like making a restaurant reservation; in others, it’s a bit of a ballache just for a sandwich. 

It’s interesting though, that it’s sandwiches in particular which seem to have inspired such hype. We are, after all, at Peak Sandwich: food publication Vittles just published a major project listing London’s best sandwiches, while Time Out recently ran a Battle Royale of all of London’s sandwich joints - Sandwich Sandwich came out on top, despite being new, due to its cult online following. 

I think that this is probably because despite being Big these days, sandwiches are still pretty simple dishes, so they tick a lot of boxes. They’re accessible while still being lavish enough to look impressive on social media, and, whether your preferred brand of food content is on the “XXL CHEESE PULLS AT CAMDEN MARKET” side of the spectrum, or the “here’s a recipe for a ricotta courgette lasagna that takes four hours” end, there’s a sandwich brand that will suit your tastes. Plus, like the baked goods that have everyone queuing around corners all over London, a sandwich tends to come at a more affordable price point than a restaurant meal, too.

Ultimately I think if you want to understand the power that social media wields when it comes to our food economy, you only have to look at the image overhaul that has been undergone by something as simple as a sandwich in recent years. Once consigned drably to the buffet table at weddings, they’re now the stars of the show – it’s arguably the glow up of the century.