Lunchtime aficionado Between the Bread investigates a serious quandary: what's the origin of butter on a ham sandwich?
I love getting questions from readers, especially when they pertain to sandwich history. This one comes from loyal reader BettyPuff:
"Dear sandwich lady, Can you tell me what the origins of putting butter on a ham sandwich are? I always wonder about the butter."
This is a tough one, since there isn't one definitive reason that almost all early American and British sandwiches feature butter. But butter is undeniably the condiment of choice in 19th century sandwich recipes, such as Eliza Leslie's ham sandwich from 1836.
Her theory on how sandwiches got better with butter, when you read more.
