Sandwiches

Listeners share their sandwich memories from childhood.

Want to share your story? Email us at treatlandpod@gmail.com.

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Hello and welcome to treatland. This is the podcast where you the listener share your favorite food memories from childhood. We'll be playing your audio clips and reading your stories. And we'll definitely be sharing some of our own along the way. Each episode will have its own food-related theme. If you like what you hear today, please be sure to subscribe to our show.

Unknown Speaker  0:23  
So one of my favorite sandwiches of all time is very, very unconventional. And something my mom used to make me when I was young and it was something that I always loved. So it is actually a feta cheese and Greek olive sandwich and a pita nothing else. No dressing. No nothing other than pita stuff with tons of feta cheese, and some type of Greek olives. So kalamata olives, or green olives, anything like that. My family used to kind of be very surprised at I used to eat feta cheese, and olives as a baby or when I was like two years old, I'd eat soup latkes, which are just a Greek salad with chicken, feta cheese, things like that. And that's something my mother concocted for me and I absolutely loved it and I still make it to this day. And it is another comfort food of mine and it's something that brings me back to my childhood and it's super salty, but it's super tasty to me. And occasionally I'll you know, I'll put it with chicken or lettuce or you know, other veggies but for the most part, I can eat it just like that. Sometimes heat it up sometimes not. So it is very, very strange. And most people may find it not appealing to them or their tastebuds. Such as my boyfriend. He is very shocked that I can eat that. But I think it's pretty good, especially if you like Greek food, or cheese. It's just it's just a stronger type of cheese sandwich. I think

Unknown Speaker  2:15  
our first story this week is brought to you by Tara AT T m illustrations on Instagram. She does some really cool artwork. Check her out. Thank you, Tara.

Unknown Speaker  2:24  
Hi, welcome to treat LAN episode number three. This week the topic is sandwiches. And I just want to briefly mention one of my favorite sandwiches is actually a sub and that is the sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub from Subway. And the very first time I had this was after a trip to Blockbuster. I had not had subway before. And we went in there and I picked it up. And it was absolutely incredible. And it became kind of a routine to get movies at Blockbuster and then get a footlong eat the entire thing with Sun Chips. So good. I tried to have this sub again fairly recently, and found out that they've changed the sauce. So it used to be a sweet onion sauce. And now it is just a teriyaki sauce. tastes nothing like the original. And they always seem to do this every time I love something it gets ruined somehow. So anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed this. But we got some great stories for today. So I hope you enjoy the show.

Unknown Speaker  3:38  
So when I turned 14, I moved into a new house, New Town everything and I inexplicably got seriously ill no one knew what was really wrong with me. But I was home from school for at a new school for about a few months. And I spent like every day just feeling miserable, like so. Didn't want to eat nothing like that i i lost a tremendous amount of weight. And I just remember one day, my parents, they must have like, felt pity on me or something. So they came home with a huge package of McDonald's for me for lunch, like wanting me to eat. And up until that point, I really only had like a kid's meal like you know, every kid just eats the generic Happy Meal, hamburger chicken nuggets, whatever. And that was it. But this time they had the crispy chicken sandwich meal. And this is back when they had the I want to say it was the green and white cardboard packaging. That's what's really sticking out my mind. They had the cardboard for sure. I just don't really quite remember their design. This is probably Nike 97 I'm thinking. So I just remember like, sitting up in bed, they brought it home. And I was just like, I'm like, Alright, I'm gonna eat something. I have to eat something. And I took one bite of the sandwich and it was the best thing ever like I I just thought it tasted so good, I think because when you're sick and you don't eat for a while, when you finally have an appetite and you finally take that first bite, it just hits the spot. So good. So it was back when it was on just a simple bond with lettuce, tomato and the chicken Patty that was it. And I think Mayo to remember if I said that or not, yes, Mayo, and now I think they put some kind of like weird lettuce on it kinda looks like the decorations they use and like a sushi container or something. But back then it was just simple lettuce, tomato mayo, and the fried chicken on the bong. And I think I had maybe they had brought home the supersize fries. Well back when they did do the supersize. And I ate every bit of it. And it was my first adult quote unquote hat, you know, meal that I was eating. And it just felt so good. It was kind of like when Mario like swallows, the star becomes invincible. That's what happened. So that was my first, like, truly good sandwich experience if I can remember.

Unknown Speaker  6:04  
My favorite sandwich memory from when I was young was when I was in seventh grade. And my friends and I used to go snowboarding together at a up in a knot all the way to Tahoe was called Big bear or something like that. It was a lodge. It was like a small ski area. And her dad had an RV and he would bring up like five of us like five kids was the best thing I ever would go for the day. And we go out snowboarding and snowboarding just like swimming or any other you know, rigorous sport makes you so hungry, right. So we would go back to the RV. After half a day of snowboarding to go have lunch. And her dad would always have the same ingredients for sandwiches. It's so funny when you think back when you were a kid I remember like each of my friends houses, their families all had like the same staple foods all the time. And I loved that because I always knew which friends were my favorite houses to go to based on the food that their parents would buy. And always have on stock. And that was always the house that we always wanted to go hang out at whoever had the best snacks. Anyway, so we go back to the RV, and he always would buy sliced sourdough bread, American cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, and Turkey and let us and something about we would all sit there and like put our sandwiches together. And then of course, we would put chips in our sandwich because that is the greatest concoction ever, is adding chips inside your sandwich. If you haven't tried that, I strongly recommend it. It gives it that extra crunch and saltiness, my goodness. And we would all sit there at your sandwiches. And every time each one of us would be like this is the best sandwich that was ever made. It is perfection. And in that moment, it was true. They were absolutely delicious, because we were so hungry. And it was just so good.

Unknown Speaker  8:02  
The first story is from Crystal with a que you can find her on Instagram at Crystal Blue persuasion. And the second story is from Whitney Walker, she is the host of the women waken podcast and you can find her on Spotify and on iTunes.

Unknown Speaker  8:22  
So I would go through phases where I would make the same sandwich every single day for school, usually three or four months at a time. And until I got totally sick of them, and then I would replace it with something else. And there was one particular period of time in my junior year of high school where I made tuna and cheese on a plain white bagel every single day for probably three or four months straight. And I used to have a trigonometry class that would meet you know, we had our class every day during the first part of the lunch hour, and then our class would go to lunch during the second part of the lunch hour. But I was always so hungry, that I would take this sandwich out and eat it every single day in class. And obviously with the being tuna and cheese. It's got a pretty strong smell to it. Thankfully, everybody around me didn't seem to care very much. And it was a pretty laid back class. But I just remember several times when I was eating, I'd be in the back of the class eating nobody else really cares or notices. And my teacher would say some of the effect of I can tell from the smell in this classroom. Right now that Eric's got his lunch out. How's your lunch today, Eric? eating tuna fish and cheese again. Okay, and then he proceed on with the class.

Unknown Speaker  9:45  
That story is from my coworker Eric And fun fact about Eric he was actually on Legends of the Hidden Temple when he was a kid.

Unknown Speaker  9:54  
In high school, my best friend Owen and I would constantly play tricks on each other and tie I will learn what it meant that revenge was a dish best served cold. About a year before my story takes place. I had become obsessed with getting Odin to admit that something was way too hot for him to eat. The first time I tried to get him, I poked a chopstick down into a hot dog, and then tried to fill it with red hot. I gave it to him and waited and waited till it was all gone with no reaction. I couldn't take it. I broke down, dude. Wasn't that hot? He just smiled and said, Nah, it was good. He knew what I was looking for and wasn't going to give me that satisfaction. A few months later, I offered to go get us subway, and he's like, sure tells me this order, and I get a sub for each of us. While I'm at the store, I asked the guy making the subs to make Owens loaded with jalapeno peppers. And he actually does it. I'd say it was nearly an inch thicker, all hidden underneath the meat, the vegetables and a couple of peppers on top, just for appearances sake. And they get back home and I give him his sub. And just like the hot dog, no reaction. He ate the entire sub. And now to word again, I was like, Come on, man. Wasn't that hot? And just like before, he said, No, it was good. So I tell them what my plan was. And we laugh about it. And that and that seems to be about that. Or so I thought a long time passes. It's now getting close to Labor Day weekend, and we plan to go out of town with his older brother. So that night on our way out of town, we decided to stop at Subway and get subs to eat on the road. One by one we place our order, hop in the car and away we go. We hit the highway and break out the subs. My first thought as I take a bite is this doesn't taste right. The second I can hardly take it. I feel like I can't even breathe. I think if I take another bite, I'm going to be sick. I turn on the light, open up the sub to see what's going on. And sure enough, I went had the guy at Subway load myself with onions when I wasn't paying attention. Like this thing was bread and mostly onions with a little bit of lettuce and stuff sprinkled on top. It was so strong that it was practically burning my mouth. My mouth was nonstop watering and my eyes were full of tears 20 minutes down the road. And I was already miserable. Oh and not so much as he'd gotten the revenge he deserved and waited patiently for I knew just by the way he asked What's wrong, that it was his doing? Good. I do guess I deserved it.

Unknown Speaker  12:39  
For as long as I can remember I was a very picky eater, and I was not a fan of vegetables or fruit. So my mom used to make me peanut butter sandwiches on toast, no jelly. And so by the time I got to school, the peanut butter and toast would be cold. And it was extremely dry and bland. And it certainly was not comfort food. For some reason I never complained about it despite the fact that I never enjoyed it. And another sandwich my mom used to make me outside the school was ham and cheese that she would melt in a whole wheat pita. And I believe she used butter instead of mayo. So it was super buttery and warm. And the pita bread was QE and hearty. And I've never had a pita quite as good as the one she used to make. So my story takes place in fourth grade. And I remember it was Valentine's day at school. And we had a class party to exchange Valentine's. So the teacher had ordered pizza and kids had candy. And everyone was in a giggly mood because it was a Friday right before school was going to be let out for the weekend. And our teacher brought in his CD player and he let the kids play whatever we wanted. And at the time the movie Titanic was at its peak. So the song My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion was constantly being played on the radio. It was just everywhere. And I had already had a tough year. But I found out that night before that my grandmother was in the hospital. And luckily she lived many years beyond the story. So that's good. But some kids just kept playing the Titanic soundtrack all afternoon in class. And it was so depressing. Every time the sun came out. It was like a punch to the gut. And my eyes were watery all day long. And the only thing that was really holding me together was the knowledge that my family was going to be going to Holiday Valley in that evening. And Holiday Valley is a ski resort that's in Western New York. And they had just built in in with a really nice hot tub and indoor outdoor pool and it was open all winter long and I love skiing. So I was just really anxious all day to leave and get on the road and be with my family doing something I love. And so the ski resort was an hour away and it was getting dark on the road. And I remember we were in the car and my mom mentioned, she had gotten food for us. So we had our cooler in the car. And my brother and I were eating leftover Valentine's candy from earlier in the day. And when we got to the resort and stepped into the lobby, there was a fireplace going and the ski chalet aesthetic was extremely comforting after the sad news and then the stressful day I had had at school. But I remember we were just all starving. So before we even went into our room, we all sat on couches and comfy chairs by the fireplace, and my mom pulled out our dinner. And she had gotten subs from Wegmans, which Wegmans is an amazing grocery store chain that is on the east coast. And if you know Wegmans subs, you know their bread is beautifully shiny on the outside and really thick and they stuffed the subs as much as humanly possible. And since I was such a picky eater, I was kind of anxious to find out what my mom got me on the sub i figured there's probably some kind of vegetable on there that I hate. But luckily she handed it to me and she's like I got you a fork she's the sub was solid bread, cheese and mayo nothing else in the first bite was like heaven to me. It was so comforting and so filling. It was the first time I had had a Wegmans of in my entire life. And my mom also got me a bag of salt and vinegar chips and I put the chips inside in between the stacks of cheese. So the thick, chewy bread and stacks of cheese slices with the crunchy zesty vinegar chips stuffed between them was bliss to my childhood tastebuds. And I remember just sitting there with my family and my food, excited to get on the ski slopes after our meal and then try out the hot tub. And it was the first time all day long, I felt completely at peace. No thoughts of my grandma and no lingering sound of Celine Dion's voice in my head. And that became my go to order every time we went to Wegmans throughout my childhood, and I always remember the very first time I ever tried it.

Unknown Speaker  17:34  
That first story was brought to you by Mike from Buffalo, New York. Thank you so much, Mike. Then the second story was brought to you by our hostess Rebecca, on Instagram at retro Plex underscore.

Unknown Speaker  17:47  
So I never was a cafeteria eater per se, I was the one who always had to bring my sweet 80s Lunchbox lunch to school, elementary school chorus by the time I get to middle school, graduated to paper bags, high school paper bags, all that kind of good stuff. I was always a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Of course this is before peanut allergies were really a thing or at least something that we really knew about and discourage bringing peanuts to school. So it was always peanut butter and jelly for me grape, strawberry if we were living a little bit crazy. And every once in a while it was okay for mom to throw in like a ham or a turkey sandwich to kind of break up the monotony of the PB and J once in a while. But let's talk about the monstrosity that why anybody would buy this is beyond me. But for whatever reason when they would sneak in what are they what did they call an olive loaf? I don't know if it was baloney. I don't know if it was some sort of process chicken and pork. But it had those god awful little olive slices. And if you weren't prepared for that, that was just a rude awakening that I don't wish upon my worst enemy. Imagine being an elementary school pulling out my Gremlins or Mr. T lunchbox. All excited about my juice box my chips and then I go and bite into this most god awful monster of a sandwich that no child should ever have to endure. It's got to be borderline child abuse at some point. Just the texture the flavor the very unpleasant, unwelcoming surprise biting into that thing. Parents that are listening. I don't know if they still make these anymore, but whatever you do, don't buy the olive love and certainly never pass it on to your children.

Unknown Speaker  20:07  
Sandwiches weren't a gigantic part of my childhood growing up. As far as my family's eating habits, I mean, like nothing major, like we didn't have like a BLT night or like a sub night or anything like that. Very typical. But when I was a kid, I do remember taking ideas for food from TV and movies and things like that. So for example, there was just one episode of The Muppet Babies were gone. So was harboring all these cookies and eating them all. And he got full at the end of the episode, although the plots beside the point. But anyway, at the end of the episode, the nanny walks in and gives him a peanut butter and banana sandwich. And I remember thinking, Hmm, that sounds interesting. So I don't I don't remember if I made it myself, or if I asked my mother to make it. But within moments, I did have my very own peanut butter and banana sandwich and it was absolutely delicious. And actually, I highly recommend peanut butter and banana sandwiches as potential, like a dessert sandwich. I mean, like, it's definitely not great for nutritional value, but it's protein in there and potassium, but that's beside the point. They were quite good. Eventually, I started toasting them that made it even better. Because toasted sandwiches are just amazing. Toasted toasting a sandwich makes a million times better. Even a simple PB and J toasted is incredible. But anyway, I thought it was weird. And I thought it was strange that I would continually eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches years into my not adulthood. I haven't really had one in quite some time. But in my to my older days, adolescence and young adulthood I would have them but little did I know I didn't find out until much later that one of Elvis's favorite sandwiches was a deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich is one of his favorite foods. And that was quite enlightening. And never actually had one deep fried before but probably wouldn't be incredible. And it's like, well, he was on top of the world for a reason. Right. And another short story. This is a little bit later in life. This is probably when I was in high school. I remember living in Buffalo, we would get a lot of snow. And occasionally the snow would fall in such levels that you couldn't even really you could barely get out of your driveway. And I remember because I had I was actually scheduled to work that day. I was scheduled to work later that day. But the school was called off we actually ended up having a snow day because there was so much snow in pure buffalo fashion. Of course there are establishments that remain open in the snow because the buffalo attitude is Oh, it doesn't matter how much snow there is. It's buffalo you expect this? No. So you can actually still find places that are that are operating. So during the day I get hungry and I decide I really, I really want like a pizza. And I go to this place this local diner slash restaurant that all the kids used to go to in high school. And I ordered two pizza subs I remember one was normal. I think cheese and pepperoni and other one was love with had black olives and mushrooms and stuff on them. I just eat a lot when I was younger. But I remember I got those in the blizzard conditions and probably drove about two miles an hour all the way down this street. That was what the place was typically like five minutes away and I think it took me 25 minutes to get there and then another 20 to get back. And I went back and enjoyed my snow day by proceeding to devour both of those pizza subs and watch the film Mageau starring Katie Holmes. That first

Unknown Speaker  23:55  
story comes from Tim. Thanks again, Tim. And the second story is from my co host Steven you can find him at beastly reviews on Instagram and also at Pizza Playhouse.

Unknown Speaker  24:08  
Growing up, we had family dinners. The meals were kind of coordinated. So sometimes it was super salad night or taco night. This particular night was in my teens and we were in Virginia at the time. And my sister who's a couple years older than me was full on in her teen angst mode of life. Anyway, so we were having BLTs for dinner. And the way that that was served was there were bowls of the various ingredients and we had toasted bread. And so you'd get a couple of slices of bread and then the various bowls of lettuce tomato. Bacon would then be passed around as well as we'd have jerky sauce, mayonnaise, mustard, whatever condiments you wanted on your sandwich. And so We were in the middle of dinner, and my sister wanted another sandwich. And so she looked at my father and said, Hey, I'd like a tomato. And so my father reached over and started to hand her the bowl. And she was, no, no, no, I just wanted a tomato. And so my father calmly set the bowl down, picked up tomato, and reached over and as she my sister reached out her hand, he smashed the tomato into her hand, and she was not at all happy. She just sort of sputtered, but she got exactly what she wanted. And so that is one of my favorite sandwich memories.

Unknown Speaker  25:38  
Sandwiches. Wow, what a nostalgic topic for me. So first off, I love sandwiches. It's basically my go to food, I guess you could say. Growing up, I have two sisters. And my parents always cooked you know, my Dad cooked a lot. And we had, you know, family meals, basically every night, but occasionally, when I'm sure my parents were just exhausted, and like, you know what, fuck this, let's just make sandwiches. So we had BLT nights, and we had sub nights. And I remember them just so vividly. You know, with sub nights, it would be some castonzo rolls or other sub rolls, and then you'd pick your cheese. And we broil them in the oven to melt the cheese. And then there was just an array of sandwich meat options, you know, always salami, ham, turkey, Bologna. All the condiments, you could want the different mustards, not just yellow mustard, Dijon mustard horseradish, of course Weber's you know, being from Buffalo, you gotta have the Weber's and mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion. The works. So I kind of I don't want to say I became a sandwich snob, but I was trained, let's just say actually, me and my two sisters were trained to make sandwiches. Special, you know, and to make them a certain way. Not none of this just two slices of white bread with a piece of meat and cheese and call it a day. As I said, there are always options and your sandwich is going to be spectacular. And as we've gotten older, I don't know how many friends, boyfriends acquaintances, colleagues, who I've had the opportunity to make sandwiches for that are just blown away because you know, you you're getting I don't even know how to explain it but the experience on your tastebuds in your mouth, it is just, it should be an enlightening experience. That's how we were trained. My dad, I think I used to think of him as like the sandwich king. And myself and my sisters are both sandwich queens. For sure. Like that is one thing we took from him and will continue to impart upon anyone that is lucky enough to have a sandwich made by any of us expect big things because we will deliver, that's for sure. And I think my favorite sandwich nowadays. I'm a creature of habit. I love bacon, like more than almost anything. So I'd say a turkey bacon pepperjack cheese, baby spinach, thin slice cucumber, onion, red onion, tomato, mayo and the most important part. It's all on an everything season roll. I'm really easy to please as you can tell, let me make you a sandwich sometime.

Unknown Speaker  29:47  
That first story is from Kent and the second story is from my cousin Molly. She is an amazing photographer. You can find her at Molly Mel Dovin photo on Instagram.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai