A debate has been raging in legal circles, office cubicles and culinary schools alike about what constitutes a sandwich.  Is a wrap a sandwich?  It doesn’t fit the “two slices of bread” rule, but let’s be honest – the world has embraced the wrap as a self-contained meat delivery mechanism.  Is an open-face sandwich a sandwich, or a new class of “altered state” pseudo-sandwiches?

A judge in Massachusetts ruled that a burrito is not a sandwich in the pivotal 2006 Panera v. Qdoba case.  But we at Unbreaded aren’t entirely satisfied with the decision, and seek to challenge the “common understanding” which served as basis for the court ruling.  Let the controversy begin.

So what are the thresholds that define a sandwich?

The bread is the most obvious place to start.  We can all agree that a sliced roll or loaf makes a suitable canvas for dressings and meat.  But what about a wrap, a laffa, a pita, a crepe, even a pancake?  As repugnant as the McGriddle was, it was marketed as a breakfast sandwich.  What about the Dunkin Donuts egg-on-waffle sandwich?  Consider the Bavarian on Pretzel Bread at The Corner Bakery.  And is a grilled cheese really so different than a quesadilla?

What about the fillings?  Everything from peanut butter and jelly to meats, cheeses, fish and veggies can be called sandwich fodder.  But not rice & beans?  Ay dios mio!

Call me a sandwich liberal, but I believe a sandwich is a broad category of offerings that includes breaded fare, but also wraps, burritos, pitas and any other handheld carbohydrate-bound concoction that fine culinary minds can create.

So where does it end?  Is a stromboli is a sandwich?  A taco?  Clearly this is not a black and white issue.  The English language is constantly evolving; new words are added each year, definitions change, even acceptable spellings change.  So why does a sandwich have to live within the motif of “between sliced bread”?

The law of the land is clear.  A sandwich contains filling between sliced bread.  But in today’s accept-one-another’s-differences world, why not extend the olive branch to our wrap loving friends?  I, for one, vote to include the wrap in our sandwich lexicon, in all its glorious incarnations.

Disagree?  Think a sandwich is a bread-mandatory item?  Leave us a comment.