This Popular Egg Sandwich From The 1900s Came With An Odd Pairing

Aficionados of old-school sandwiches rarely eaten today may already be familiar with the egg and sardine sandwich. This protein-packed handheld snack was popular in the early 1900s, when sandwiches really took off in American culture. Once bakeries started selling pre-sliced loaves, chopping up a few ingredients at home and slapping them between two slices of bread became a breeze.

The egg and sardine sandwich embodies this ease. A recipe from the 1923 cookbook "Nine Hundred Successful Recipes" by Lulu Thompson Silvernail calls for 4 boiled eggs, 1 small can of sardines, 2 tablespoons of horseradish, ½ a head of lettuce, and a little salt and pepper, all of which are chopped up together into a spreadable consistency. The mixture is then spread onto buttered slices of bread to create eight total sandwiches. Chopping the ingredients rather than layering them onto the bread helps them stretch a bit further. For those still riding the chopped-sandwich TikTok trend, the egg and sardine version may be one to add to the must-try list.

For much of the 1900s, canned sardines were a common sandwich ingredient found on menus in diners, cafeterias, and automats (aka fast food's cafeteria-style predecessor) across the U.S. They were a deli order that Americans used to love. Because these tiny fish were inexpensive and plentiful, they were a popular staple for people who didn't have much money.

In the U.S., sardines' popularity began to decline in the 1960s, when cheap and easy alternatives to canned goods became more accessible. But that doesn't mean sardines have totally fallen out of favor. On Reddit, people frequently share their favorite sardine sandwich recipes. One user even suggested an upgrade for the egg and sardine sandwich, recommending "Toasted ciabatta bread, deens [sardines] in evoo, hard boiled egg, lettuce, pickled onions, pickled beets, capers, mayo and horseradish." Over on YouTube, the channel Sandwiches of History added a layer of banana pepper rings to an egg and sardine sandwich, reporting that these gave the item a "nice, vinegary pop, little bit of heat," and "a little bit of crunch."