Where does this come from, and can I check it?

John Montagu lent his noble title to two slices of bread with meat between. The figure is taken from British Library, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The sandwich is named for an earl

John Montagu lent his noble title to two slices of bread with meat between The usual story places the invention at a gaming table in 1762, where the earl asked for meat between slices of bread so he could keep playing. Contemporaries repeated the tale, and the word was in use by the end of the century for any such arrangement. Bread with filling existed long before the name did. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

British Library

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: sandwich, etymology, britain

The sandwich is named for an earl: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: John Montagu lent his noble title to two slices of bread with meat between. The figure is taken from British Library, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.