In the eighth century B.C., Yuan Chu invented the wok, a large semispherical pan that allowed for quick frying with minimal fat, cutting food into small pieces, thus respecting the most important law of nature: economy. In order to handle the heated iron handles of the pan without burning their hands, Yuan Chu wrapped them with flatbreads made from water and rice flour, thus originating the first "piadine". It is known that Pythagoras of Samos, in addition to inventing the famous table, founded a school in Croton in the 6th century B.C. whose disciples were vegetarians. It was the mathematician Pythagoras who created a roll of fresh lettuce leaves dipped in a batter of water and flour and cooked on a hot stone, suitable for containing piping hot lupins, cream-colored seeds with high protein content, as testified and confirmed by Vincenzo Corrado, who devotes a chapter of his "Gallant Cook" to Pythagorean food, namely vegetarian. It was thanks to this creation of Pythagoras that the philosopher Zeno became stoic, as he managed, after many attempts, to swallow the lupins, enduring their "stoically" furious heat.
The next stop takes us to Rome, in the neighborhood corresponding to the ancient Suburra, where there is a street called Via Panisperna, a name that in Latin indicated bread and ham.
In the Middle Ages, any slightly strange dish was considered the work of the devil, and the cook who created new recipes, branded as a heretic, risked ending up on the grill; for this reason, during that period, there were no extraordinary culinary creations, and the evolution of the sandwich came to a halt. In the 17th century, in French taverns such as "The White Goose" or "Queen Margot's," people stopped more to throw down the gauntlet and duel than to enjoy the specialties of the hosts, who were more occupied with quelling fights than with renewing or creating new dishes, thus even the perfection of the sandwich was halted.
In 1789, the French people revolted against the nobility, bourgeoisie, and clergy, this was te ocassion that prompted a commoner named Bourril to revolutionize some previous attempts in the making of the sandwich. He enclosed a slice of bread between two slices of cheese. The only disadvantage, also a source of discomfort for some upright citizens, was the recurring fashion of hand-kissing, a custom that not even the revolution had managed to eradicate. Bourril’s idea also died into nothingness.
Finally, in the 19th century, we have the true father of the sandwich: the Englishman John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, a politician and passionate card player. Retiring to private life, he spent all his time at the gaming table and was so engrossed that he did not even want to get up to eat, and apparently not even to attend to his wife. He thought of having his butler bring him a slice of bacon directly to the gaming table, which the faithful servant did, diligently inserting it between two playing cards to prevent his master from greasing his fingers, a very dangerous action for a gaming enthusiast, in which the last phalanx is essential for slowly sliding the corner of one card over another.
As the finances of the Earl of Sandwich were rather low, due to some poorly played games, he decided to replace the cards with two slices of bread, which were much cheaper.
Montagu then perfected his invention by buttering the slices of bread, enriching them with leftovers from the pantry such as: cold cuts, cheeses, cold meats, pâté, preserved fish, Russian salad, and more.
Eugenio Medagliani