Open thread: Favorite sandwich for lunch

We just had a rather large discussion about fluff sandwiches. It seems that most of the readers who ate them (East and Southern folks primarily with smattering of people mostly east of the Mississippi) believed them to be their favorite sandwich from childhood.

What was your favorite sandwich from childhood? What is your favorite sandwich NOW?

(I’ll answer in the comments)

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86 thoughts on “Open thread: Favorite sandwich for lunch

  1. Hmmmmm, I would say that my favorite sandwich when I was growing up was Liverwurst and sweet pickles with mayo. It was a good day when I found that in the lunch box. And I would say that it is #2 on the list now. #1 being BLT's, which we had this week with tomatoes grown in the garden and homemade mayo. Be still my beating heart.

  2. ooh, tuna and lettuce was definitely my favourite when i was younger. no mayo, either – i only started liking condiments (any sauces or dressings other than gravy, actually) when i was a teenager. i think salami (by itself, with only margarine on the bread) was also popular. i wasn't into spreads.

    now, i'd definitely go for a good tofu Banh Mi (vietnamese style sandwich). Or anything with avocado. Avocado with salt and pepper on a crunch roll = heaven.

  3. Deviled ham spread (the junk in a can) was my faovorite sandwich as a child, probably because we only had it on rare occasions (my mother, like me, made everything from scratch, rarely relying on store-bought items like deviled ham spread). I hate that stuff now. It's so salty it feels like it's shredding my tongue when I taste it.
    Nowadays, my favorite sandwich is a grilled cheese — with onions and tomatoes, on sourdough bread. I guess my tastebuds have grown up a wee bit.

  4. Hmm…tough one. I have two that my mom used to always make us as children. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches and cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches. I always think of my childhood when I have those sandwiches. Now though? Does an open face sandwich count?? Tomato melts. Mmm….It has to be a fresh garden tomato though. The ones you buy at the store just don't compare.

  5. When I was a kid it was PBJ- in kindergarten there was a JIF commercial that included a mom carving a heart into the peanut butter and we insisted my mom do that on every sandwich 🙂 Now…my friend made me a toasted baguette sandwich with fresh mozz, and tomatoes and basil from her garden last summer. I'm still dreaming about it.

  6. Avocado, bacon and ranch dressing sandwiches! Absolutely heavenly!. I live in the tropics and my parents have an Avocado tree right in their backyard so we'd have these at least a couple of times a week during the summer when I was a kid. Sometimes we'd have swiss or cheddar cheese on them as well but since getting good cheese down here is next to impossible adding cheese was a rare occurrence,

  7. My favorite sandwiches as a kids were PB&J and Tuna Fish. Now I love PB & banana, or something packed with veggies-feta and avocado always help.

  8. I looove nutella 🙂 But I really like turkey, provolone or muenster and mushroom sandwiches with a little bit of creamy italian dressing on it. Then I grill it! Kind of like a Panini… and on wheat… I really don't do the white bread thing I think it's gross

  9. Favorite growing up – peanut butter on white bread (no jelly)
    Favorite now – so hard to choose! I'll go with what I eat most often when I get to enjoy a quiet adult lunch – turkey and provelone with lettuce, tomato, sprouts, a touch of mayo and avocado (sometimes I skip the avocado, sometimes I switch it up and add vinegar and oil and banana peppers). It's not very fancy (not a panini, not served on ciabatta) but it's so good!

  10. Veggie sandwiches are always good – spinach, red pepper, dried pineapple, and sunflower seeds is so tasty it doesn't even need a dressing.
    My go to sandwich, however, is quick and the ingredients are always around: peanut butter and (grated) carrots.

  11. As a kid, I loved bologna sandwiches. Now, I actually don't eat sandwiches very often. I'm a sucker for a good tuna melt or a grilled cheese with tomato sandwich, though.

  12. Back when I was a kid, my favorite sandwich was sourdough bread with nutella and banana or strawberry slices. Great one and I still love it today.

    My recent favorite sandwich is either an italian bread (crunchy) with french mustard, rocket salad, thin slices of roast beef and some shredded parmesan cheese or a close 2nd favorite is the same kind of bread with pesto, mozzarella, dried tomato and rocket salad.

    I could eat any of these mentioned sandwiches right now 🙂

  13. Mom rarely bought sandwich meat, though tuna fish, liverwurst (I loved as a kid and still do), pb&j or cream cheese and jelly found their way into my lunch box. Sandwiches made from left overs were more common and I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED meatloaf sandwiches! Mom would take that soft, Italian-style sliced bread and load it with meatloaf slices and some ketchup. HEAVEN! My other favorite, though only appearing after holidays because that's when we ate it, was kielbasa sandwiches. We don't buy the readily made stuff like Hillshire Farms (bluck!) but go to the Polish deli on 2nd avenue in Manhattan. He stuffs and smokes his own and it's heaven! THOSE sandwiches were a real treat. I also loved finding a thermos of Mom's homemade chicken soup in my lunch box.

    Today I'm more into wraps and paninis, though a good NYC style Ruben can make my heart do flips. BLTs, grilled portobello and goat cheese sandwiches, loaded gyros … it's good to live in such a food oriented and diverse city.

  14. Bologna sandwiches and liverwurst (when I visited my grandma). Now anything with avocado, bacon, and mayo.

  15. When I was a kid I loved BLTs with a ton of mayo. These days I still love BLTs, but I prefer them with avocado slices or with freshly made egg salad on a good hearty wheat or whole grain toast.

  16. Egg and maple bacon (thick cut) on a plain or sesame bagel.

    Yes, I've already heard from a Jewish friend of mine that God is going to turn me into a pillar of salt or strike me down or something for the sin of eating bacon on my bagels. But I say, YUM!

    Second favorite is the same as my kiddie favorite. PB and Knott's Strawberry Preserves on soft potato bread.

  17. my favorite sandwich as a kid was tuna with celery and onion cut up in it, with tomato. yum!

    My new favorite is tomato with avacado and miracle whip.

  18. Kid – Fried balogna, of course! It was made by frying balogna w/butter & ketchup until there were crispy brown bits on the balogna and the butter/ketchup was thick and gooey. We had it on Trim (brand name) bread which was supposed to be a "diet" bread (my mother was on a perpetual diet). It was soft but it had bits of oatmeal and other whole grain in it and sesame seeds on top.

    Now – BLT w/mayo especially if it's on toasted sourdough. Grilled cheese is a close second especially if the cheese is a good, stinky Emmentaler or raclette. Either one screams for a cup of homemade tomato soup on the side for dipping.

    That avocado, bacon, and ranch combo sounds darn tasty. Might have to give it a try.

  19. Favorite childhood lunch was my Mom's Tuna (white albacore, chopped sweet gherkins pickles and hardboiled egg) on her Homemade Sourdough bread with a Fresca! Today I guess my favorite sandwich is turkey on rye although I had a really good cheese, tomatoe and basil panini the other day.

  20. Now, in prep of this post – don't judge me – it was something I learned from my Dad, and it's much better than you think –

    Peanut butter and dill pickle. I've always been a fan of more savory applications of peanut butter, I wonder if this is where it started. If you like Thai and Indonesian foods (which I never had as a kid, but think of the peanut-lime combo in those cuisines) you'll like this sandwich.

    I suppose no worse for you than PB & J, though I'd guess the increase in sodium knocks out the benefit of reducing the sugar.

  21. Growing up I ate peanut butter on white bread. Two slices of bread slathered in peanut butter and each folded in half. mmmm… That's my go to when I'm feeling a little nostalgic or just want something comforting.

    Now, I love a tuna salad with hard boiled eggs and tomato.

  22. Peanut butter and banana – esp if the banana was over ripe and could be squished into banana jelly. 😉

    Which reminds me of my father, who used to LOVE peanut butter and mustard sandwhiches. *gag*

  23. As a kid, cream cheese sandwiches. Yep, cream cheese on white bread, end of story. Makes me cringe now. I think I was one of those annoying kids who liked mostly white food. I did also like peanut butter and banana.

    I'm no longer a "white foodie" though. Now I dislike bland food. My current favorites are: a wrap with roasted chicken and a yummy cabbage/cilantro/avocado slaw (recipe from SF Chronicle a couple months back); a meatball Banh Mi (recipe epicurious.com), and turkey with stuff like guacamole or hummus. Strong preference for whole wheat or rye bread.

  24. All these sandwiches are making me hungry. I could eat sandwiches 24/7. I love everything but pb and j. Some good combinations not mentioned are cream cheese and jelly, cream cheese and olive spread, meats and horseradish, cuban sandwiches, banh mi, egg salad with bacon, and peanut butter (mixed with smoked paprika) and lettuce and tomato (better than with bacon!). When my husband is away I almost always have some sort of grilled cheese sandwich for supper

  25. Oh – and my kid's current favorite? Scrambled egg and smoked salmon on a toasted english muffin.

  26. Grilled cheese when I was a kid.

    Today, I like a club sandwich on wheat bread – no mayo. Fresh tomatos. Yum.

  27. Favorites as a child: grilled cheese and PBJ

    These days, my absolute favorite is a BLT. But only if the tomatoes are really fresh– ideally, they should be picked while the bacon is cooking. And of course it's on my homemade bread, with homemade mayo… My non-tomato season favorite is still grilled cheese, with avocado thrown on for a special treat.

  28. Every day for about 3 years in high school, I had a sandwich that had 1 slice healthy choice honey turkey, 1 slice colby cheese, and mustard, on wheat bread. Sometimes when I went with my mom to the grocery store I'd get her to buy lettuce and sprouts and I'd put them on it.

  29. Favorite as a kid: white bread, Cheez Whiz, bologna, and pickle. Out of that list the only one that gets into my house now is pickles!

    Now, I don't east sandwiches. I can't have wheat or cheese. Non-wheat breads are gross, and without cheese no sandwich is worth eating!

  30. I love sandwich bread with mayo and egg with cheese..Taste really perfect! I would love to eat more and more 🙂

  31. My favorite sandwich as a child is still one of my favorites – cream cheese on toasted bread with sliced green olives. Mmmm..

    Nowadays, I'll make myself one every now and again, but I love, love, love a sandwich of fresh sliced tomato on wheat with mayo and lots of pepper and salt.

  32. Then: Wonderbread, butter, sugar. My grandma's special

    Now: Any sandwich from ZINGERMAN'S in Ann Arbor, MI

  33. Bologna and Velveeta on white bread. *shudder*

    Now, I'd be hard pressed to name a favorite, as there are so many fabulous combinations out there, and I had to stop reading the above comments for fear I'd head back into the kitchen!

  34. My husband is actually in the middle of a bologna-and-cheese-craving phase, which has reminded me how much I loved those when I was a kid. I also loved liverwurst sandwiches, and of course PB&J (but only after it's sat for a while getting warm and sticky and soft).

  35. as a kid, maybe deviled ham from the can … on a hamburger bun. Now, either grilled cheese with turkey and pickles or a subway turkey sub with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, black olives, oregano and light mayo … mmmmm!

  36. We did do what we called Fluffernutters, still a favorite occasional treat for my kids, but only make them once or twice a year, Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter. My favorite sandwich now is a cucumber and tomato sandwich, cucumbers (garden fresh) and tomatoes picked from the vine, a thin smear of mayonnaise, sprinkled with salt and pepper..a summer treat I look forward to all year long!

  37. Growing up, fried bologna and cheese or toasted white bread with mayo. To be honest, if I didn't understand how BAD this sandwich is, i would still love it. I would probably add some tomato and lettuce.

    That said, my favorite sandwich is served at the local pizza place: Turkey, mozzarella, pickled jalepenos and mustard on toasted french bread. I eat it with a side salad to balance it out a bit. My hubby and I ride our bikes there once a week when the kids are in school.

  38. Kid: home made benadictine (cream cheese, cucumber and onion dyed green) on white bread.
    or pb&J on homemade oatmeal bread.

    Now: I don't eat a lot of sandwiches. I do like hummus, avacado and fresh tomato on whole grain bread or a whole grain bagle half with cream cheese tomato red onion and basil.

  39. As a kid, it was salami and cheddar cheese.
    Growing up, it has to be Vegemite and avocado on buttered toast. Yes!

  40. I somehow became partial to peanut butter and honey sandwiches somewhere along the way as a child. Now: muffulettas.

  41. Peanut Butter and Something-Other-Than-Jelly, when I was a kid–PB and Fluff (yup), PB and Bananas, PB and honey…all delicious. But not jelly. Ever.

    Now–I'd love to be gourmet about it, but nothing beats a really good grilled cheese sandwich on lovely artisan bread with a really good gouda, or maybe havarti with a little pesto on the bread…combining quality ingredients with that childhood squee of stretching cheese, nothing like it…

  42. Viki, you're giving away your location! 🙂 (My husband's family is from the area, we never miss a Derby Day)

  43. I had two childhood obsessions. Bologna on white bread with Miracle Whip. I think I ate that every day for lunch throughout elementary. (And shame on me now for trying to get my son to eat different things when I probably tried my mom's patience with bologna!!!) I also ate TONS of pickle sandwiches – white bread, Miracle Whip and sliced pickles – this I ate during lent a lot. (I was a weird kid!)

    Nowadays, I'm not sure. Liverwurst, Tomato, Cream Cheese and Miracle Whip on White. Grilled Cheese. Tuna Melt. I love grilled ham and cheese when it's ham sliced from a huge baked ham and the bread is homemade. As long as I have fresh ingredients and crispy lettuce, I think I'm happy.

  44. When I was a kid, my grandmother would make sandwiches using whole wheat bread with mayonaise, and slices of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers straight from her garden. That was my favorite, although my sister preferred her bread soaked in real maple syrup instead! Now, I still use whole wheat bread, but skip the mayo. One recent favorite was whole wheat pita pockets stuffed with thin slices of leftover pork chops, arugula, tomatoes, red and yellow pepper strips, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar dressing. Yummy! BTW, I hate peanut butter after many years of peanut butter toast for breakfast on school days, but my daughter's favorite sandwich is a flour tortilla spread with peanut butter, sprinkled with wheat germ, drizzled with honey, and rolled around a whole (peeled) banana.

  45. Favorite sandwich as a child? Fluff-a-nutter no contest but now I do not like them
    Favorite sandwich now? Oh my! BLTs are very good but hold the T as well as crack pepper turkey with American cheese, shredded carrots, lettuce, and spinach on a "gourment" roll.

  46. I have never really liked sandwiches.

    Both as a kid and now probably my favorite would be leftover turkey (from Thanksgiving or Christmas) or leftover ham (from Easter) on leftover dinner rolls. With a little cranberry sauce on the turkey ones.

    For everyday, if I have to make a sandwich, probably grilled turkey & swiss. But honestly, I'm more likely to have a salad with meat or beans than a sandwich.

  47. Although I must occasionally have had some other sandwiches (like the Fluffernutters I mentioned in yesterday's post), I have a clear recollection of having tuna on toast (with tomato soup) almost everyday for lunch (those were the days they actually let us go home for lunch from school. Do they let elementary school kids leave school for lunch these days? I wouldn't think so, but I'm really not sure.

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