D&D General Sandwiches should exist in your fantasy world!

[Charlaquin]

And here I was just thinking that a soup used a spoon and a stew used a fork.

I usually eat stew with a spoon…

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Pho might be a bit of a stretch as it would have to come about from a situation that's different from there being a something like a Vietnam that took on both Chinese and French influences for noodle soup. Bahn Mi probably even more, as I'm sure that was invented in Vietnam when some Frenchman said "make me a baguette".

 

[Bohandas]

If the halflings in your setting haven't invented sandwiches, what are they even doing with their time?

...And then the gnomes invent the Big Mac and the Double Down

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

There's an element of how broadly or narrowly one defines "sandwich." Flatbread wraps and food served on top of bread have been around since ancient times. "Trenchers" of bread are a medieval thing that would fit very well into a standard fantasy "knights & castles" game.

Sandwiches in the form of edibles between two slices of bread is an 18th century development. That form, and the related "bread roll or bun cut in half, with edibles between the two halves" does come across as anachronistic in a medieval style setting. Or at least it does to me.

On the third hand, in a fantasy setting of the "late medieval, heavily seasoned with anachronisms" sort, those 18th century (and later) sandwiches can fit right in.

 

[Charlaquin]

There's an element of how broadly or narrowly one defines "sandwich." Flatbread wraps and food served on top of bread have been around since ancient times. "Trenchers" of bread are a medieval thing that would fit very well into a standard fantasy "knights & castles" game.

Sandwiches in the form of edibles between two slices of bread is an 18th century development. That form, and the related "bread roll or bun cut in half, with edibles between the two halves" does come across as anachronistic in a medieval style setting. Or at least it does to me.

On the third hand, in a fantasy setting of the "late medieval, heavily seasoned with anachronisms" sort, those 18th century (and later) sandwiches can fit right in.

"late medieval, heavily seasoned with anachronisms" does kinda sum up the standard assumed D&D milieu.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Corn is from the New World. Maize, specifically, A grass seed not terribly unlike Wheat that they cultivated into many varieties of what we now call Corn. Do you have Whiskey in your setting? It's often made of Corn. Bourbon is 100% corn booze.

Yes, maize corn is out of place in settings meant to be strict counterparts to pre-Colombian-Exchange Europe. However, "corn" was, and in some contexts still is, used to refer to wheat and barley (and rye and oats) rather than to maize. Whiskey is a broader term covering American bourbon, Irish whiskey, and Scotch. The objection to whiskey as an anachronism is that distilled spirits didn't become well-known in Europe until late in the medieval period. (Per Wikipedia, "The first known written mention of Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland of 1494.")

Sincerely... All of this stuff has been a part of our perception of "The Past" for so long that our fantasy games that are 'Generally Europe' include them all. Sandwiches aren't going to get you yelled at.

Tacos might. Chinese food might. But that's just because there are racist jerks who have no clue of the history of the foods they associate with Europe getting pissy about "Anachronisms" in a fantasy game where nothing makes any kind of historical sense. It's just an excuse for them to get mad about the existence of people who aren't white, cis, and straight.

You'll win more friends and influence more people if you refrain from attributing differing aesthetic preferences to political thoughtcrime. Even if Colombian-exchange elements get handwaved into an otherwise medievalish setting, one still might want a nod toward a world where regional cultural differences haven't all fallen to the effects of industrial-age transport. Or if you insist on injecting politics, a world where the Europe-analog nations haven't (yet) gotten all conquistador and imperialistic, and so haven't looted the non-Europe-analog nations for their cuisines.

 

[MGibster]

Yes, maize corn is out of place in settings meant to be strict counterparts to pre-Colombian-Exchange Europe. However, "corn" was, and in some contexts still is, used to refer to wheat and barley (and rye and oats) rather than to maize. Whiskey is a broader term covering American bourbon, Irish whiskey, and Scotch.

I remember watching something on PBS where two girls were in a wheat field and one of them says to the other, "We are surrounded by nothing but corn." My immediate thought was someone either made an error or British people had a funny idea of what corn was. Little did I know...

Food is one of those world building details that I just don't think a lot of players care about. But maybe players don't care because DMs don't put a lot of thought into it. In most D&D games, at least in my experience, we tend to treat the setting very much as we expect our modern lives to be and that extends to food. Does the average person in the city of Greyhawk even have an oven at home? I'd say no. A real oven is likely to be the purview of the wealthy while most people get their bread from a baker. What kind of bread does the average person eat? Is it even appropriate for sandwiches? We're used to nice, soft bread for the most part, but bread wasn't necessary soft like we're used to. But then PCs can probably afford whatever bread they want.

I know medieval London had laws regarding the commercial production of bread and I imagine other places in Europe did as well. Maybe someone could incorporate that into a scenario somehow?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Whiskey is a broader term covering American bourbon, Irish whiskey, and Scotch.

Scotch whisky. Different spelling, no e.

 

[Morrus]

It feels like an odd question to me, because D&D does not resemble medieval Europe in any way whatsoever. Ignoring the obvious fantasy elements, it is very American--I'd describe it as Fantasy American Ren Faire. I don't feel any cultural connect between D&D and my history/culture at all, any more than I do when watching Star Wars, and I'm not sure why I should be expected to. It is its own thing.

So, huh. Sandwiches, wizards, steampunk goggles, it's all good.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

yeah
The first dungeon had a gift shop and other anachronisms.

It was a fantasy world that took fun aspects of the Middle Ages, Middle Earth, Jack Vance, Lankhmar, and a touch of Conan, with a need to wargame on a small scale and pushed them through the filter of the wild Wild West.

Cutting off two pieces of bread and slapping a filling seems quaint, and there is genuinely nothing technologically stopping it from existing in the Middle Ages.

Heck, it is more plausible than forks existing in your fantasy world.