--- description: Also our favorite dinner. And breakfast. title: National Sandwich Day: Celebrate with TIME's 1986 Mimi Sheraton Essay image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcc0acbe2747a30a/6987633d55a859405ea837c8/sandwich-boy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Food & Drink](/tag/food-drink/) ## Food & Drink Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Celebrate National Sandwich Day With This 1986 Ode to Our Favorite Lunch  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 3, 2014 12:00 PM CUT  A boy eating a sandwich, circa 1945 A boy eating a sandwich, circa 1945Lambert / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 3, 2014 12:00 PM CUT The table of contents of TIME’s 1986 “What America Does Best” special issue starts off with a list of a few of those things. First on that list, naturally, is sandwiches. Any sandwich fan — and we are surely legion, as Monday is National Sandwich Day — knows why the humble bread-based meal deserves such pride of place. For any doubters, food critic Mimi Sheraton provided an accompanying essay explaining just why the sandwich is so important. Feelings about sandwiches run strong, she writes, but no other food is so capable of holding the meaning of America between its starchy sides: --- > “” --- Sandwiches are an “almost-taken-for-granted favorite,” Sheraton concludes, but there’s no reason not to start appreciating them now. **_Read the full essay here:_** [Eating From Hand to Mouth](http://time.com/3546341/sandwiches-eating-from-hand-to-mouth/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3546354/national-sandwich-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3546354/national-sandwich-day/"},"headline":"Celebrate National Sandwich Day With This 1986 Ode to Our Favorite Lunch","datePublished":"2014-11-03T12:00:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:14:10.557Z","description":"Also our favorite dinner. And breakfast","url":"https://time.com/3546354/national-sandwich-day/","keywords":["Food & Drink","Newsfeed","Sandwich","sandwiches"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcc0acbe2747a30a/6987633d55a859405ea837c8/sandwich-boy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcc0acbe2747a30a/6987633d55a859405ea837c8/sandwich-boy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Boy Eating Sandwich","caption":"Boy Eating Sandwich","creditText":"Lambert / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-drink/","name":"Food & Drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3546354/national-sandwich-day/","name":"Celebrate National Sandwich Day With This 1986 Ode to Our Favorite Lunch"}}]}] ```