The great British supermarket sandwich

The prototype of the chilled sandwich was pioneered by Marks & Spencer. This non-supermarket food retailer has always been a de facto research and development laboratory and trendsetter for Britain’s supermarket chains.

In UK supermarket terms, the M&S sandwich is a huge success story, a food-retailing breakthrough. ‘[It] is now an icon, representing freshness, quality and flavour – a welcome replacement for the previous cliché of the tired old British Rail sandwich,’ observed one industry commentator.

But is it such a great leap forward? Pre-packed in its plastic carton, the modern chilled sandwich encapsulates much that is bad about British food. The fundamental concept is flawed because, as any baker can tell you, bread should never be refrigerated. The cold and dampness caused by refrigeration kill any possibility of a proper contrast between crust and crumb. The best sandwich is the sort that any small shop can whizz up: fresh bread and rolls straight from a local baker that morning, filled on the spot and sold hours later for more or less instant consumption – a straightforward, simple, sustainable process capable...

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