Brave New Sandwich: The Side Character Sandwich
Words by Ben Smoke
Illustration by Kay Ogundimu
A woman sits at the back of a packed meeting room in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In front of her, the love of her life - the man who broke her heart - has returned.
He’s different now. A new beard. A new job. A shock promotion to corporate that no-one saw coming. His new initiative - a website to streamline the company's sales, has hit some teething problems and the room is angry. In amongst the roar she steels herself before cutting in above the din.
He singles her out, “Yes Kelly, do you have a question?”
“Yeah I have many questions, firstly how dare you, “She replies without missing a beat.
Across the country, in Pawnee, Indiana and Parks Director Ron Swanson has just turned down a job as deputy city manager. From nowhere Jean Ralphio appears - his manelike barnet glistening as he pronounces he’s ready to take on the role exclaiming, “Who’s got two thumbs and just got cleared of insurance fraud?” before proudly pointing to himself. It’s the job of city manager Chris Tregar to turn him down in a move Ralphio declares to be “smart”.
We’re on Barry Island, Wales now and Dorris is being hounded about salad. She’s had enough and turns to Bryn who joins the chorus of demands shouting “Where’s the salad? There’s the salad!” as she flips him off.
In New York, Janice’s OH MY GAWD echoes out across time. In a high school Gymnasium in suburban Chicago a disguised Damien shouts “She doesn’t even go here” above the heads of the young women gathered to do trust exercises. In the Scottish highlands three witches gather to spit the sickest verse of the 11th Century with the enduring ‘double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble’.
Throughout all of history there have been side characters. Those whose stories are, perhaps, subsidiary to the plot, but who are vital to it in one way or another. Whether it’s Kelly Kapoor’s acerbic one liners in the Office US, Jean Ralphio’s perfect parody of rich boy entitlement in Parks and Rec, Gavin and Stacey’s Dorris as the quintessential working class Grandma side characters have long stolen the show.
It’s why this winter, chicken chain Nandos is inviting food lovers across the UK and Ireland to embrace their 'side character energy'. Garlic Bread's no longer the supporting act - it's the star, in the new Garlic Churrasco Burger. With two flame-grilled chicken thighs, pickled red onions, mixed salad leaves and all-new Smoky Churrasco PERinaise all served in the ultimate burger bun... Nando’s Garlic Bread. Laced with a hint of warming chilli the bread, which see’s garlic butter smeared onto fluffy ciabatta rolls before being toasted over the grill makes a natural transition to the centre stage.
Brave New Sandwich was a series we started to celebrate the pioneers. The free thinkers. The radicals and the daredevils. The people who have innovated and created a bold, new culinary path for sandwiches - whether through radical ingredient combinations or fundamental restructuring of what it is that we understand to be a sandwich.
The use of garlic bread as the sandwichy bookends is exactly the kind of innovation this series was created to celebrate. A gastronomic revolution so obvious, it’s hard to believe none of us thought about it until now.
Enjoyed this article? Follow Sandwich on Instagram to keep up with our latest news.
