Finally, a post for me. I've actually spent a considerable amount of time trying to come up with a basic definition of a sandwich. I ran into some problems too, but different ones than the ones you mentioned. The solution I found most satisfying was defining a sandwich as "a set of ingredients contained between two distinct 'halves' of a bread product." This was the best (and simplest) definition to me for these reasons: * It excludes wraps, burritos, gyros, and other similar products (violates the 'distinct halves' section) * It includes sub sandwiches and other sandwiches that have partially connected halves (still 'distinct') * It excludes toast, flatbreads, and other nonsandwich bread-based foods. The main problem with my definition is that it excludes open-faced sandwiches. I don't personally consider an open-faced sandwich to be a sandwich, but people that do would probably want to create their own definition. I also initially took issue with defining burgers and hot dogs as sandwiches, but I resolved that by making "burgers" and "hot dogs" subsets of the main "sandwich" set. I didn't bother to define what bread was. Maybe that should be the next thing I try to do.
thanks for gracing my eyes with this abomination
I'm comfortable excluding wraps and burritos, but I think gyros fit the "two distinct halves" criterion. Although the thickness is uniform, unlike a hot dog or sub, when holding a gyros there are clear sides that function much like a sub. The wraps and burritos are excluded because one could turn them in any direction without losing the contents.It excludes wraps, burritos, gyros
The issue is that the "clear sides" of a gyro are made up of one piece of flatbread that's folded around some meat and veg. A gyro is essentially a wrap that doesn't wrap around all the way. Sure, it has distinct sides. But I challenge anybody to find the top and bottom halves of a gyro. The crucial difference between hot dog buns, sub buns, and other things similar to them is the cut. The cut gives the bun sandwich-like definition. A fold can approximate it, but a folded piece of bread is inherently unstable. It needs to be held shut, or it reverts to just "flatbread with toppings". You can complete the fold by rolling both sides together - but then you're back at a wrap again. Good points though. If I can find a better definition, I will.
But what about open faced sandwiches? And cutting a burrito in half lengthwise (admittedly a dumb thing to do, but hey it's a thought experiment) would make it fit that definition of a sandwich as well. I do like where you're headed though, and I think we can definitely work with the idea that the way the bread is applied is important to what we consider a sandwich. I certainly think that it has to be a flat piece (or pieces) of bread on which the set of ingredients are applied. Your definition brings to light something I was playing around with as well: the idea that sandwiches are more defined on how they look than how they're actually made. Thus a sandwich could be anything that is surrounded by flat (or relatively flat) objects of the same general materials. However, this begs the question of what multidimensional sandwiches would look like (which is a super weird thing to thinks about).
The keyword is "between". If you cut a burrito in half, the ingredients wouldn't be contained between the two halves. They'd just be inside each half, without the other half being necessary. Open faced sandwiches are another thing entirely. They share more in common with toast than they do proper sandwiches. The crucial part of a sandwich is how it contains things. Open faced sandwiches don't contain, they support. They're the location that other things rest on. A sandwich, generally speaking (looking at you, hot dogs and some subs), should be able to be inverted. The issue here is that the word "sandwich" has two meanings. The first one, shit between bread (cgod), is the one I've been talking about. The second one is used like you were saying: things between other things. Ice cream sandwiches (cookies) are the best example I can think of. Notice though how when you hear the word "sandwich" by itself, you always think of the first use - a bread something. That might be the key right there.