Eating History

Welcome to Episode 3 of Eating History’s sandwich season! This week, Stephen and Adrienne explore how the Industrial Revolution took the sandwich out of aristocratic parlors and put it into the hands of the working class. Discover how the rise of factories, densely packed cities, and fast-moving railroads forced humanity to eat by the clock, and why the sandwich was the perfect culinary technology for the job. In this episode, we explore: The Rise of the Sandwich: The grim reality of 19th-century railway food, and why paying for a terrible, sawdusty sandwich was better than missing your train The Invention of Lunch: How factory bells and rigid work schedules forced the main meal of the day to shift to the evening, creating the modern midday lunch break The Original Ham-Sandwich: How a London coffee shop owner capitalized on late-night theater crowds to invent a booming street food market The Rise of the Torta: How Armando Martínez Centurión dressed in a formal suit to sell Mexican tortas to everyone from factory workers to celebrities in 1890s Mexico City Ybor City's Cigar Factories: How the famous lectores (professional readers) entertained a melting pot of Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish workers who were all trading sandwich secrets Dangerous Recipes: The 1909 Up-to-Date Sandwich Book that documented the first PB&Js, alongside diabolical creations like the sardine-and-popcorn sandwich

Welcome to Episode 2 of Eating History’s sandwich season! This week, Stephen and Adrienne track the sandwich as it escapes 18th-century England and begins its journey across the globe. From a brief military ceasefire in France to a bustling railway station in Japan, discover how the sandwich traveled not as a rigid recipe, but as a flexible culinary category that adapted perfectly to every culture it encountered. In this episode, we explore: The 1802 French Crossover: Why France borrowed the English word "sandwich" during a brief pause in the Napoleonic Wars Silver Sandwich Cases: Eliza Leslie’s 1837 American cookbook that proved early sandwiches were polite, domestic luxuries, not brown-bag lunches The Convict Restaurateur: How Stephen Bax, an English convict exiled to Australia in 1813, helped establish the sandwich category in Sydney Nose-Tingling Mustard: The colonial food writings and sharp condiment philosophies of British Army officer "Wyvern" in India The Japanese Railway Sandwich: How international trade introduced Western ham to Japan, seamlessly merging the sandwich with the country's existing bento transit-food culture

Welcome to the official kickoff of Eating History Season 2! This week, Adrienne and Stephen tackle one of the most famous origin stories in the culinary world: Did John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, really invent his namesake meal to keep his hands clean during an all-night gambling bender? Join the hosts as they explore how an ancient, practical way of eating evolved into a distinct cultural category, and why one 18th-century English aristocrat still gets all the credit. In this episode, we explore: The legendary myth of the gambling Earl and why the story has survived for over 250 years A 14,500-year-old archaeological discovery in Jordan that proves bread predates agriculture itself How ancient cultures around the world utilized bread as a plate, spoon, and wrapper Why the ancient "Hillel sandwich" and the Asian bao were brilliant culinary solutions, but not intentional "sandwiches" The "iPhone Analogy": How John Montagu didn't invent the meal, but helped create the cultural category that sparked endless culinary innovation

Welcome back to a brand new season of Eating History! After tracking the evolution of pizza across the globe, Adrienne and Stephen return to tackle an entirely new culinary mystery: What exactly is a sandwich? Join them as they explore how "food inside bread" evolved from a prehistoric practice into a powerful cultural category, and why we are all still furiously debating the hot dog. In this episode, we explore: The Sandwich Meter: How we put different “sandwiches” into categories The Definition Dilemma: Why traditional rules (like "two pieces of bread") accidentally turn burritos and po' boys into existential crises The Sandwich Shop Test: What our gut reactions reveal about our hidden culinary expectations The Hot Dog Divide: How the history of the American packed lunch separated everyday routine sandwiches from leisure foods like the hot dog Season 2 Sneak Peek: A tease for next week's investigation into whether the Earl of Sandwich actually invented anything.

Welcome to the grand finale of Pizza Bites! After an entire season devoted to the evolution of the slice, Adrienne and Stephen tackle the biggest question of them all: When exactly did pizza stop being an Italian import and become an undeniable American staple? By narrowing down the historical timeline between World War II and the rise of fast-food chains, they pinpoint the exact day pizza officially conquered American pop culture. In this episode, we explore: Why returning WWII soldiers sparked the fire, but didn't immediately make the dish mainstream The incredible six-year window (1947–1953) where the press went from explaining what a pizza was to declaring it a threat to the hot dog and hamburger Why the founding of Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas in 1958 was a symptom of the pizza boom, rather than the cause August 10, 1953: The release of The Caddy and why the debut of "That's Amore" by Dean Martin is the perfect marker for pizza's American takeover