Read This Before Ordering 'Old Style' At Subway
You're standing in line at Subway, thinking about what kind of sandwich you'll ask for. Meatball? Steak and cheese? Italian? As you consider all of your options in between looking at the trays of toppings and meats behind the glass display case, you overhear the person in front of you ask for a sandwich "old-style." What does that mean?
Subway is a restaurant built around catering to the customer. No matter what sort of sandwich you ask for, there's a high chance it'll be made. Granted, there are going to be a few customers who take gross advantage of having full control over their order — such was the case of one woman asking for her sandwich to literally ooze dressing (via In The Know) or having chocolate chip cookies stuffed into their hoagie (via Reddit) — but in most cases, the guy behind the counter will make your sandwich without a second thought.
But, out of all the requests you may hear at Subway, just what exactly is the "old-style"? Is it a request to make the sandwich how they made it back in the 1960s? Is it a very specific order of ingredients to make some sort of "old-fashioned" sandwich? Apparently, "old-style" is simply a request to cut the bread differently.
Old-style sandwiches have the bread cut from the top
If you haven't heard of "old-style" sandwiches before, you needn't be ashamed. According to The Daily Meal, "old-style," at least in Subway's case, refers to a bread-cutting practice the sandwich chain used to employ. Rather than cut length-wise, "the bread used to be cut from the top," forming a pocket in the middle of the bread. Meats, cheese, and various other toppings would then be stuffed into this pocket, with the top then placed back on.
But what's the reason the Subway employees can't do it? As The Daily Meal explains, this practice hasn't been done since the '90s. Chances are employees won't even know what you're asking them if you ask for an "old-style" sandwich due to this time-lapse.
Still, because most Subways don't do it doesn't mean all stores don't. In 2018, one Redditor with the username DistortedPerspective posted a picture of their Subway hoagie prepared with a "v-cut," the slang term used for "old-style" cuts. Another commenter mentioned that a Subway in their area also did cut the sandwich "old-style." It appears to be that only a relative handful of people know what "old-style" is, rather than it being a widely practiced technique.
Although you may or may not be able to ask for your sandwich "old-style" at your local Subway, you can still take comfort in knowing that you can still make an absurd amount of combos at Subway when ordering your subs.