How the British sandwich became a uniquely Indian meal

A favourite Indian ‘comfort food’ is the humble sandwich, an aristocratic English invention, which they have made their own with the addition of traditional Indian fillings

India’s go-to snack is a delicious East-meets-West combination of ingenuity and tradition loved by everyone from busy parents to cash-strapped students

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Pav, a favourite type of Indian bread used for sandwiches

Published: 1:00pm, 14 Nov 2021Updated: 2:53pm, 23 Nov 2021

Forget samosas and bhajis, Indians love their sandwiches and gravitate daily to their favourite street corner stalls to enjoy slices of bread with every kind of filling from paneer to pizza.

The creation of the staple snack has long been attributed to a British aristocrat. John Montagu was the fourth Earl of Sandwich in Kent, England in the 16th Century, and according to an apocryphal story, he ‘invented’ the sandwich so he could eat while continuing to play his favourite card game without a break and without the use of cutlery. Since then it has become the world’s favourite snack – a non fussy but filling meal on the go.

For centuries, Indians have had their own breads such as naan and chapatis made of wheat flour, but the Western concept of bread (and refined flour) was brought to the nation by the British and the Portuguese colonisers and is now part of the country’s culinary culture.

“It was the Portuguese who introduced India to Western style bread as a concept. When they came to Goa in India’s west, they longed for their bread and started making it themselves using a little toddy to ferment it (they did not have yeast) in improvised ovens, and pao (pav) bread was born, which is a common bread eaten by the masses all over Western India and used in street food like vada pav (pao bread and a deep-fried potato in gram flour) and Kutchi Dabeli (pao buns stuffed with potatoes, chutneys, peanuts and crunchy sev (crispy snack made from gram flour),” said Kurush F Dalal, food anthropologist and historian.

John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Image: Corbis

Traditionally, Indians ate bread with curries, mopping up the gravy as they used to with rotis and chapatis, their version of bread. “The British were responsible for introducing Indians to industrial, factory-made sliced white bread. In the 1960s and 1970s the iconic Bombay sandwich evolved on the streets of Mumbai, loaded with slices of boiled potato, boiled beetroot, tomato and onions, slathered in a green chutney, a spicy sandwich masala and served with ketchup and extra chutney inside. Later grilled or hot versions became popular. These are all part of the story of industrialisation and hungry mill workers in Mumbai,” Dalal said.

Sandwiches became a favourite fast food for college students and office workers and were served from small handcarts and street-side stalls. Homes started using sandwich toasters or tavas (rustic griddles) to cook them. Today, bread is an indispensable part of most Indian households where it is used more as a receptacle for stuffing – from paneer (cottage cheese) to spiced potato – and is often toasted on hot tavas or griddles. It is a convenient lunch for working people and a way for the frugal to use leftovers. Frequently the staple condiment is a green chutney, which many householders make and store in their fridges.