20 Sandwiches That Were Once Everywhere, But Are Now History
Remember when certain sandwiches dominated lunch counters and diner menus across America? These handheld meals defined generations, appearing in lunchboxes, roadside diners, and family kitchens everywhere.
Sadly, many once-popular sandwiches have faded into culinary obscurity, replaced by newer food trends or changing tastes.
Let’s take a nostalgic journey through 20 sandwich legends that have largely disappeared from our daily lives.
1. The Chow Mein Sandwich
New England’s weird and wonderful fusion creation stuffed crispy noodles between bread slices and doused them in gravy. Popular in Fall River, Massachusetts, during the 1920s-60s, this oddity bridged Chinese and American cuisines.
Nathan’s and Howard Johnson’s once featured this crunchy-turned-soggy delight on menus nationwide. Today, you’ll find it only in a handful of Massachusetts Chinese restaurants, a relic of America’s early multicultural food experiments.
2. Sardine and Onion Sandwich
Depression-era staple alert! Canned sardines layered with raw onion slices between bread provided cheap protein when meat was scarce. Grandparents who lived through hard times often kept this peculiar combo in their lunch rotation long after economic recovery.
The pungent pairing appeared in 1930s cookbooks and newspaper columns offering budget meal solutions. Modern palates have largely rejected this intensely fishy, aromatic creation—perhaps for the best, especially in closed office spaces!
3. The Prosperity Sandwich
Hot turkey smothered in cheese sauce on toast symbolized better days during the Great Depression. Restaurants ironically named this lavish open-faced creation to contrast the economic downturn surrounding them.
A precursor to today’s hot turkey sandwich, the Prosperity featured sliced turkey, bacon, and tomato under a blanket of melted cheese sauce.
The comfort food classic gradually disappeared as diners modernized their menus and formal lunch service declined in the 1960s.
4. Olive Nut Sandwich
Grandma’s bridge club favorite combined chopped green olives, nuts, and cream cheese into a spread that graced tea sandwiches nationwide. Ladies’ luncheons weren’t complete without these crustless triangles during the 1940s-60s.
Department store tea rooms and women’s social clubs popularized this sophisticated finger food. The salty-creamy combination fell from grace as formal afternoon gatherings became relics of the past and convenience foods replaced homemade spreads.
5. The Denver Sandwich
Before the Denver omelet conquered breakfast menus, there was the Denver sandwich! Scrambled eggs with diced ham, green peppers, and onions served between bread became a lunchtime sensation in diners across America during the early 20th century.
Railroad workers allegedly created this portable meal, named after the city where it gained popularity. By the 1970s, the sandwich version mysteriously vanished while its open-faced breakfast counterpart survived—proof that some foods work better without the bread.
6. Tongue Sandwich
Beef tongue sliced paper-thin once headlined delicatessen menus nationwide! This tender, mild-flavored meat was considered a premium deli option before modern diners developed squeamishness about organ meats.
Jewish and German delis proudly displayed whole beef tongues in their cases through the 1960s. Served simply with mustard on rye, tongue sandwiches commanded premium prices.
Today, they’re rare specialty items, victims of changing food preferences and America’s growing disconnect from whole-animal butchery.
7. The Breadless Sandwich
Weight-conscious 1950s housewives embraced this diet trend that replaced bread with lettuce leaves. Women’s magazines promoted these sad little protein packages as the secret to maintaining one’s figure while still enjoying “sandwich time.”
Fillings like egg salad or tuna were wrapped in iceberg lettuce leaves, creating a messy eating experience.
While technically not extinct (hello, modern lettuce wraps!), the earnest way these were promoted as actual sandwiches, complete with sandwich spreads, makes the original concept a relic of mid-century diet culture.
8. Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich
Elvis wasn’t the only one with quirky peanut butter preferences! The PB and bacon combo enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1950s before health concerns about processed meat took hold.
Cookbooks and advertisements from major peanut butter brands actually suggested this salty-sweet pairing. The crispy bacon and creamy peanut butter created a textural contrast that many found irresistible.
As nutrition awareness grew in later decades, this indulgent creation retreated to the realm of novelty foods.
9. Cream Cheese and Olive Sandwich
Mid-century lunch counters served this creamy-salty combination to shoppers needing a quick refuel. Department stores like Woolworth’s featured these simple sandwiches alongside their famous egg creams and malts.
The contrast between smooth cream cheese and briny olive bits created an addictive flavor profile. As shopping habits changed and mall food courts replaced department store counters, this understated classic gradually disappeared from American eating habits, surviving mainly in church cookbook recipes.
10. The St. Paul Sandwich
A Midwest mystery that combined an egg foo young patty with mayo, lettuce, and pickles between white bread! This Chinese-American creation dominated St. Louis takeout spots despite its Minnesota-referencing name.
Legend claims a Chinese chef created it for Midwestern customers who wanted portable Chinese food. The bizarre fusion item thrived from the 1940s through the 1980s before gradually disappearing as American Chinese food evolved.
Today, it survives only in a handful of old-school St. Louis establishments.
11. The Club House Sandwich
Not to be confused with today’s club sandwich! This 1940s variation featured chicken salad, hard-boiled eggs, and bacon between three bread slices, each layer separated by lettuce. Fancy hotel restaurants served this architectural marvel secured with decorative toothpicks.
The labor-intensive construction made it a symbol of luxury dining. As casual eating became the norm and restaurant labor costs increased, this elaborate creation simplified into today’s turkey-bacon-lettuce club.
The original egg-centric version has virtually disappeared from modern menus.
12. The Prune Sandwich
Before we mock our ancestors’ culinary choices, consider that prunes were once trendy sandwich fillings! School lunch programs and home economists promoted prune sandwiches during the 1920s-30s as nutritious, economical options for growing children.
Prunes were mashed with nuts or cream cheese to create a sweet spread. Health-conscious mothers embraced these fiber-rich creations, much to their children’s dismay.
The combination mercifully faded from lunchboxes after WWII, when more appealing fruit options became widely available year-round.
13. The Lettuce Sandwich
Minimalism reached its peak with this creation that featured nothing but iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper between white bread. Depression-era cookbooks suggested this as an economical lunch option when more substantial fillings weren’t affordable.
The crisp, watery sandwich somehow persisted into the 1950s, when homemaking magazines still featured it as a “refreshing” ladies’ lunch option.
While modern foodies might rebrand this as a “deconstructed salad sandwich,” the original simple version has thankfully disappeared from our culinary landscape.
14. The Baked Bean Sandwich
Working-class lunch pails once commonly contained this hearty protein-carb combo. Factory workers in industrial cities enjoyed cold baked beans smashed between bread slices—a portable version of a Saturday night supper staple.
British immigrants brought this tradition to American shores, where it thrived in manufacturing towns.
As workplace cafeterias emerged and lunch options expanded in the post-war era, this messy, starchy creation gradually disappeared from lunchtime routines, though it occasionally resurfaces in New England as a nostalgic curiosity.
15. The Banana and Mayo Sandwich
Southern grandmothers defended this unusual pairing that combined sliced bananas with mayonnaise on white bread. The sweet-tangy combination found favor particularly in the Carolinas during the Great Depression and remained popular through the 1960s.
Some variations added peanuts or a sprinkle of sugar. Food historians attribute its creation to the era when bananas became widely available but still seemed exotic.
The combination strikes most modern eaters as bizarre, though a small contingent of Southern food traditionalists still prepares them as nostalgic comfort food.
16. The Butter and Sugar Sandwich
Children of the 1930s-50s often received this simple treat as an after-school snack. White bread spread with butter and sprinkled generously with white sugar provided quick energy when more nutritious options weren’t available or affordable.
Some variations used brown sugar or cinnamon-sugar instead. Before modern nutritional awareness, this carb-loaded creation wasn’t considered particularly unhealthy—just a normal childhood indulgence.
As parents became more nutrition-conscious and pre-packaged snacks proliferated, this sweet sandwich gradually disappeared from American kitchens.
17. The Onion Sandwich
Literary giant James Beard championed this pungent creation featuring nothing but thick slices of sweet onion, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper on buttered bread. The celebrated chef wrote about this simple sandwich with such passion that it briefly gained culinary credibility in the 1950s-60s.
Beard insisted on Bermuda or Vidalia onions for their milder flavor. Despite his influence, the intensely aromatic creation never achieved mainstream popularity beyond adventurous food enthusiasts.
Today, it survives mainly as a historical footnote in discussions of Beard’s unpretentious American food philosophy.
18. The Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwich
Fancy tea parties once weren’t complete without these delicate, crustless creations! Thin-sliced cucumbers atop cream cheese on white bread dominated ladies’ luncheons and formal afternoon gatherings throughout the early-to-mid 20th century.
Department store tea rooms served these refreshing bites alongside petit fours and scones. As formal tea service declined and American entertaining became more casual, these labor-intensive finger sandwiches retreated to special occasions.
19. The Cheese and Ketchup Sandwich
School lunchboxes of the 1940s-60s frequently contained this simple combination that modern parents would likely reject. American cheese slices and ketchup between white bread satisfied picky eaters when options were limited.
Depression and war-era children carried these to school, and many continued the tradition with their own kids. The sweet-savory combo gradually lost favor as more diverse lunch options became available and nutrition standards evolved.
Today, it survives mainly in the memories of Baby Boomers who recall the simple sandwich with nostalgic affection.
20. The Hot Milk Toast Sandwich
Comfort food reached its zenith with this sickroom staple served to convalescing patients throughout the early 20th century. Buttered toast was cut into pieces, placed in a bowl, and covered with hot milk and a sprinkle of salt or sugar.
Sometimes served open-faced with the second bread slice on top, this soft, easy-to-digest creation was standard fare in hospitals and home sickrooms.
As medical nutrition advanced and bland diets fell from favor, this once-ubiquitous invalid food disappeared from caretaking repertoires, surviving only in nostalgic literature.