50 free Sandwiches trivia questions with answers. Sandwiches are the most eaten meal on earth that almost nobody thinks about, and that makes them a goldmine for trivia. This quiz starts with the 18th-century card-playing earl whose name stuck, the Passover wrap that beat him by 1,800 years, and the courts that have had to rule on whether a taco counts. Then it works through the American regional classics: the poker-game Reuben, the cheesesteak that grew out of a hot dog stand, the po' boy born in a streetcar strike, the muffuletta, the Cuban and the French dip. The second half goes global and gets weirder: bánh mì, croque madame, smørrebrød, the tramezzino a poet renamed, doner in West Berlin, gyros, falafel, Vegemite, the chivito, and Elvis's 8,000-calorie loaf. Sliced bread, Subway's $1,000 start, and Katz's Delicatessen round it out. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and primary sources before publishing, and each question carries its citation. Difficulty runs from lunch-counter easy to a handful only a food historian will get, so it works for a trivia night, a classroom, or settling an argument about what a hoagie is called in Boston.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which card game was Lord Sandwich reportedly playing when he called for beef between two pieces of toast?
Cribbage
The appeal was practical: he could keep gambling without a fork and without greasing his cards.
Q 02The familiar Lord Sandwich gambling anecdote first appeared in a 1770 travel book by which French writer?
Pierre-Jean Grosley
His impressions of London came from a single year spent there in 1765, and the tale reached English readers in translation in 1772.
Q 03Honoring the 4th Earl of Sandwich, Captain James Cook named which islands the 'Sandwich Islands' in 1778?
Hawaii
Cook also named the South Sandwich Islands in the Atlantic and Montague Island off Alaska for his patron.
Q 04The sage Hillel the Elder is said to have wrapped Paschal lamb and bitter herbs in what?
Soft matzah
The Passover custom is often cited as the earliest recorded ancestor of the modern wrap.
Q 05In 2024 a court in which US state ruled that tacos and burritos are 'Mexican-style sandwiches'?
Indiana
The judge added that the same logic would cover Greek gyros, Indian naan wraps and Vietnamese bánh mì.
Q 06The USDA's definition of a closed sandwich requires at least what share of cooked meat?
35%
An open sandwich must clear a higher bar of at least half cooked meat.
Q 07The earliest known reference to a club sandwich appeared in an 1889 issue of which New York newspaper?
The Evening World
A rival story credits the Saratoga Club after Richard Canfield turned it into a casino in 1894.
Q 08The Omaha origin story of the Reuben places its creation at a weekly poker game held where?
Blackstone Hotel
Grocer Reuben Kulakofsky asked for corned beef and sauerkraut, and the owner's son added the cheese and dressing.
Q 09Which cheese belongs on a classic Reuben?
Swiss
Because it stacks meat and dairy, the deli icon is not kosher under traditional dietary law.
Q 10Pat and Harry Olivieri, credited with inventing the Philly cheesesteak, originally ran what kind of stand?
Hot dog
One day they tried chopped beef with grilled onions instead, and Pat's King of Steaks still operates today.
Q 11American cheese was first added to the cheesesteak in 1951 by a manager known by what nickname?
Cocky Joe
Joe Lorenza made the change at the Ridge Avenue location, two decades after the sandwich was born.
Q 12Which cheese is 'overwhelmingly the favorite' at Pat's King of Steaks, outselling American ten to one?
Cheez Whiz
Across the street at Geno's, owner Joey Vento always pushed provolone as 'the real cheese'.
Q 13The po' boy was named for free sandwiches given to 1929 strikers from which industry?
Streetcars
Bennie Martin recalled greeting each striker at the counter as 'another poor boy'.
Q 21In which year did Julia Davis Chandler publish the first known peanut butter and jelly sandwich recipe?
1901
The article ran when peanut butter was still considered a delicacy rather than a pantry staple.
Q 22Which company patented the sealed crustless sandwich in 1999 and launched Uncrustables the next year?
Smucker's
The same company had already put peanut butter and jelly in one jar as Goober Grape in 1968.
Q 23The towering Dagwood sandwich is named after a character from which comic strip?
Blondie
Chic Young began drawing the enormous stacks in 1936, and a Toledo restaurant tried to franchise the idea in 1951.
Q 14A po' boy ordered 'dressed' comes with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and what?
Mayonnaise
Fillings run from fried shrimp and oysters to alligator, boudin and rabbit.
Q 15The muffuletta was created in 1906 at Central Grocery on Decatur Street in which city?
New Orleans
Sicilian immigrant Salvatore Lupo ran the deli, and the loaf is still sold by the quarter, half and whole.
Q 16In 2012 which Florida city's council named the 'Historic Cuban Sandwich' its official signature sandwich?
Tampa
The vote was a shot in a long friendly rivalry with South Florida over who owns the sandwich.
Q 17Which meat is traditionally layered into a Tampa-style Cuban sandwich but left out of the Miami version?
Genoa salami
The addition reflects the Italian immigrants who worked alongside Cubans in Ybor City's cigar factories.
Q 18Bánh mì bread became fluffier when Vietnamese bakers stretched scarce wheat with which cheap ingredient?
Rice flour
The swap started as a workaround for disrupted wheat imports and became part of the bread's character.
Q 19What is France's grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich called when topped with a fried or poached egg?
Croque madame
The base version dates back to at least 1891, when a Paris sporting review mentioned it.
Q 20The Monte Cristo took off after the Blue Bayou Restaurant at which theme park began serving it?
Disneyland
The first documented 'Monte Cristo Sandwich' appeared in a US restaurant trade publication in 1923.
Q 24One theory traces the sloppy joe to 'loose meat sandwiches' sold in the 1930s where in Iowa?
Sioux City
Heinz's test-kitchen research credited a cook named Joe with the saucy ground-beef original.
Q 25Philippe the Original and Cole's, rival claimants to the French dip, are both restaurants in which city?
Los Angeles
Both opened in 1908, and one legend says the first roll was dropped into meat drippings by accident.
Q 26Philadelphia's word 'hoagie' is linked to Italian-American workers at which World War I-era shipyard?
Hog Island
Former mayor Ed Rendell later declared the hoagie the city's official sandwich.
Q 27What is the prevailing New York City term for a submarine sandwich?
Hero
The plural is usually written 'heros', and the popular story crediting a 1930s food columnist has no good evidence behind it.
Q 28In which city is a sub uniquely known as a 'spukie'?
Boston
Nearby Westchester County calls the same sandwich a 'wedge', and Norristown, Pennsylvania says 'zep'.
Q 29Subway opened in Bridgeport in 1965 under what original name?
Pete's Super Submarine Sandwiches
It became Subway in 1968 and now runs more than 37,000 locations worldwide.
Q 30The Fool's Gold Loaf, which Elvis once flew from Graceland to eat, came from which city?
Denver
He and his friends bought 22 loaves, ate them with Perrier and champagne, and flew home the same night.