Cold sandwiches

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Posted at 11:21AM, 04 February 2008 by Gregg Wallace - TV presenter, greengrocer

How do we compare food-wise with the rest of Europe? I mean, every single newspaper devotes quite a bit of time to food and restaurants. Personally, I think we have a lot more diversity than most countries apart from the United States. Never in Europe have I managed to eat good Indian, Chinese, or Turkish. We definitely do top end as well as anywhere else. I think, mid-range we do pretty well. Consider all the good quality pubs there are now in Britain.

Where we do struggle though, or appear to, unless you know better, is bottom end. Street food. When I watch the rugby in Paris, every bar seems to have crispy baguettes filled with ham, cheese, and many other goodies. When I travel through Italy, wherever I stop, I can eat well. When I first took my girlfriend, Amanda, to Italy, she was astounded by the quality of the food in the petrol stations.

Imagine that in Britain, being able, after filling your car with petrol, to get quality coffee or really good panini. You choose your filling and they have enormous industrial sandwich toasters on hand. I'm used to it now. But it is startling when you first experience it. You can even get alcohol!

What do we get over here? The biggest pile of chocolate and crisps you've ever seen, or a sandwich in a plastic container, refrigerated. Who in their right mind, wants to eat a cold sandwich? As far as I can tell, there aren't outbreaks of food poisoning occurring all over Italy or France on a week-by-week basis. I think the major difference, is the quality of the produce.

In Italy, they have exceptional bread, the salads are crisp, the meat is sliced in front of you. Over here, inside the sandwich packet, is the cheapest nastiest possible bread, and the soggiest and cheapest of fillings. The price is roughly the same. European travellers to England must be horrified.

Comments

Little Red Courgette

4 February 2008, 12:18PM
Little Red Courgette

I couldn't agree more. There's no excuse for serving the muck that we get on the road here. Surely it's not that hard to slap together some fresh ingredients and make a good old fashioned proper sarnie.

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James

4 February 2008, 2:54PM
James

Not neccessarily - you just need to look further - we have a high street deli which makes sandwiches on rustic breads to order, slicing meat as they go, adding cheese from their vast cheese counter. Remember the high street? SubWay and Wild Bean cafe have filled quite a hole in the market too - good enough quality, and they're made fresh too. We just need to keep boycotting the sub-standard an they'll get the point.

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Churchpolly

4 February 2008, 6:06PM
Churchpolly

You are so right Greg - when our family was young - three kids - we could never afford to stop and eat at a service station so I used to provide sandwiches and a flask for us instead. I used to feel a bit sad about that but now, when I can afford to eat in them I pass! Most of what is on offer is appalling high fat high priced rubbish. My answer when on a long journey is to plan ahead - I know its not Masterchef but just a simple baguette, a nice piece of cheese and a crispy apple eaten in my car and if I'm lucky a play on radio four - bliss!

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Beth

5 February 2008, 4:42PM
Beth

There are a few places that are nice in the Uk but they are few and far between and there are too many sandwiches with too much mayo and wilted lettuce in them.

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CashewButter

5 February 2008, 11:09PM
CashewButter

Perhaps I have a different perspective... I am a Brit living in the US and, compared woth the options available in the UK, options for a quick bite for lunch are sorely lacking. There are only the omnipresent fast food chains. Sure, those are all over the UK too, but there are many more healthy options there, as well. While Pret a Manger (yes, I know they are owned by McDonalds) and Marks and Spencer Simply Food may not be examples of gourmet cuisine, they offer healthy choices and (at least for Pret) a dose of eco-conciousness. Its refreshing to go back home and be able to get descent "fast food", not mashed up cow testicles. Sure, the UK might be lagging a bit behind Italy and France, and we should do our best to become a "foodie" country in our own right, but we should also be proud of what we have.

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jayne

6 February 2008, 2:28PM
jayne

totally agree! there are some exceptions but my biggest critisism is that they put mayo in everything-yuk

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Penny B

6 February 2008, 7:22PM
Penny B

The sandwiches in M&S Cafe Revive are far too cold. Cold sandwiches are tasteless. I asked why they were so cold and was told that they had to be served like that - health and safety.

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heathers

6 February 2008, 8:10PM
heathers

I coudn't agree with Greg any more, cold soggy sandwiches, pies suasage rolls etc, and all overpriced, if we are going on a long journey I pack fresh rolls and fillings they are much nicer and a lot cheaper. H K

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shez

7 February 2008, 8:48PM
shez

Agree with Heathers. Why pay over inflated prices when you can take your own quality bread and fillings?

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Alig99

10 February 2008, 4:34PM
Alig99

I'm with cashewbutter, not every european country has good roadside food. Since September 07 I have been driving down through Spain and back on a regular basis and I'm now considering getting a little white catering van and setting up on the roadside selling good old british sandwiches! Yes, I know there is tapa, but they are never microwaved hot enough and some look like they have been hanging around for days. So its either do it yourself or maybe M&S could get a franchise with Repsol!

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kipperelli

11 February 2008, 8:38PM
kipperelli

The best sandwich I ever had was a just warm baguette ( no butter) stuffed with good, thinly sliced ham and sliced emmental cheese(not wet plastic type ham that's always square! weird shaped pigs!!) in france having got off an early morning ferry and hour earlier. They made it there and then wrapped it in the napkin fabulous. Not a drop off mayo in sight

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kiwi

19 March 2008, 9:28AM
kiwi

arent all sandwiches cold?

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