Ham and cheese has been voted by Britons in a recent survey as the Number One sandwich filling of all time.
The study also revealed how Britain likes its sandwiches prepared, with mayonnaise, not salad cream, on medium-sliced bread cut horizontally – accompanied by a packet of cheese and onion crisps – the optimum presentation.
The winning cheese-and-ham combo received a resounding 55 per cent of the vote from British workers in the nationwide poll by Hovis.
In second place is egg mayonnaise with cress (41 per cent), followed by the BLT in third place (35 per cent).
Tuna mayonnaise ranks fourth (33 per cent) and ham salad is in joint fifth place with cheese and pickle (32 per cent).
Ham and cheese has been voted by Britons in a recent survey as the No.1 sandwich filling of all time
| 1. Ham and cheese | 6= Vegan BLT |
| 2. Egg mayo and cress | 6= Chicken and avocado |
| 3. BLT | 7. Vegan cheese |
| 4. Tuna mayo | 8= Ham and coleslaw |
| 5= Ham salad | 8= Tuna and sweetcorn |
| 5= Cheese and pickle | 9= Coronation Chicken |
| 6= Chicken mayo | 9= Salmon and cream cheese |
| 6= Cheese and tomato | Source: Hovis |
Several other fillings were also sandwiched in a joint place.
Four fillings make the cut in joint sixth place including two meaty fillings, one vegetarian combo, and a vegan option – chicken mayo, chicken and avocado, cheese and tomato, and vegan BLT. They all garnered 31 per cent of votes.
Vegan BLT is not the only plant-based filling to make the list, with vegan cheese coming in seventh place (30 per cent).
It beats ham and coleslaw, which comes in joint eighth place with the lunchbox staple tuna and sweetcorn (28 per cent).
Rounding off the list is salmon and cream cheese in joint ninth place with coronation chicken (26 per cent) – which sold out in supermarkets ahead of the King’s coronation on May 6.
In the condiment stakes, mayo was voted the clear winner (40 per cent) while salad cream, in second position, was only chosen by 18 per cent of Britons.
Egg mayonnaise with cress is in second place, winning an impressive 41 per cent of the vote
The result also shows that just less than one in five Britons prefer a tang to their sandwich, with 17 per cent voting for pickle as their favourite condiment, in third place, and 15 per cent voting for mustard, in fourth.
Almost half of Britons, meanwhile, believe the best way to cut a sandwich is in half horizontally (46 per cent), followed by diagonally in half (26 per cent) and then in triangular quarters (13 per cent), while six per cent do not slice it at all.
Medium thickness is the ideal bread to use for 50 per cent of voters, while 49 per cent say it has to be a classic white loaf every time.
When it comes to crisps, cheese and onion garnered 36 per cent of the vote as the best flavour to eat with – or inside – a sandwich.
Next comes ready salted (29 per cent), salt and vinegar (27 per cent), prawn cocktail (20 per cent) and roast chicken (19 per cent).
Almost seven in 10 people (69 per cent) are now making a sarnie for lunch every day with the nation’s workers sitting down at 12.30 and taking just 35 minutes to devour their meal.
The BLT comes third, with 35 per cent of the vote, followed by tuna mayo with 33 per cent of votes cast
Thirty-eight per cent say sandwiches are a frugal and easy choice, the poll revealed.
Whatever Britons choose for lunch, the joy that it brings starts two hours earlier at 10.30am when they start thinking about what they are going to eat.
Almost one in three (30 per cent) confess they get so excited that they end up eating some or all of their packed lunch before lunchtime.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, it’s no surprise that they are also cutting back on shop-bought items.
The favourites for this list? Sandwiches (32 per cent), coffees and teas (30 per cent), take-out burgers (27 per cent), pastries (23 per cent), takeout wraps (19 per cent), fruit (19 per cent) and salad bowls (16 per cent).
Claire Parlour, Hovis’s head of marketing, said: ‘The unassuming yet scrumptious sandwich has been around for over 250 years and over that time has seen off many challenges as a lunchtime staple.
‘No matter what fillings you choose, whichever way you like to cut it, and whether you can wait until lunchtime or not, it is great to see the nation’s renewed enthusiasm and love for packed lunches and timeless fillings.
‘Hovis has championed the quality and taste of the classic sandwich since we started baking bread back in 1886, so it’s no surprise to us that the Great British public look forward to a delicious homemade sandwich for lunch.’
