Sandwiches

- you know those things that are a convenience food...something supposedly tasty between two slices of bread.  
The story is that they were invented by the Earl of Sandwich - because he wanted something he could eat while still at the gaming tables.  True? I don't know. I doubt it. I suspect sandwiches were around long before that. They are much too convenient not to have been "invented" long before the Earl put his name to them.
But some people do some curious things with sandwiches. I have a "cook book" - given to me - full of curious ideas that I will probably never try. This will be not just because they don't particularly appeal to me but because they contain ingredients we are unlikely to have. The book is American in origin and that doesn't help but there are also things there that I don't see going in a sandwich at all - like "peanut butter and grape jelly". I believe that's popular across the Pacific pond. Peanut butter (we used to call it peanut paste and the Senior Cat still does) is an ingredient I can just about understand but "grape jelly"? 
I have never been one for a "jam" sandwich. We kittens were never allowed to have such a thing when small. I am not particularly fond of jam of any sort. 
On Saturday morning in the supermarket I overheard someone say,
"He's back on the fish finger sandwiches. I thought I'd got him off those. What's wrong with tuna for goodness' sake?"
The last time I ate a fish finger was in a school - somewhere in Essex I think. It was a school lunch. The children demolished their fish fingers in no time at all. I was told it was a popular meal.  
I know a man who has only ever eaten cheese and pickle sandwiches. It was the first sandwich he ever had - on the first day at school - and it is the only sort he has eaten ever since.  Variety? Well he would prefer plain, white sliced bread but he will tolerate some other type of bread in an emergency. 
We had a banana shortage here several years ago. When you could buy a banana they were expensive - several dollars expensive each in the local greengrocer. One mother admitted that her son was going to school with bread and butter for lunch because she could not afford to buy bananas and the only sort of sandwich he would eat was a banana sandwich. That was something else we kittens were never allowed to have. Now that I could the idea doesn't appeal at all.
The Senior Cat will eat all sorts of sandwiches. I know his favourite - beef and tomato - and I will try to supply that if he needs to take a sandwich somewhere.  
The grand-kittens across the road will only eat Vegemite (rather like Marmite) sandwiches.
But I used to have to provide supper sandwiches for people who were meeting here. Cousin M.... only likes "fritz" (a sort of luncheon meat) and tomato so I would buy a few slices from the butcher. If there were any left over he would take them home for lunch the next day because the Senior Cat and I do not eat "fritz". 
I would then sneak in some things I thought were a little more interesting like "curried egg and grated carrot" (a favourite of Cousin M's wife), or "cream cheese, walnut and celery" . There were never any of those left.
I may need to take a sandwich to a meeting later in the week. There isn't any cream cheese in the house and I can't justify buying some just for a sandwich.
Do I have egg? Do I have cheese? Those things need salad with them.
I really should try something new....what?