The sandwich and parliamentary democracy were made by English aristocrats and remade in America. These exports crossed the Pond around the same time. The sandwich was invented, or at least identified, in the late 1700s. It is named, as the American chain reminds us, for John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-92). Legend has it that Sandwich, a high roller in an age of fanatical gambling, couldn’t tear himself away from the tables, so he called for a servant to bring him a hunk of beef between two slices of bread. The truth may be that Sandwich, who was First Lord of the Admiralty when the Royal Navy was the world’s biggest industrial unit, couldn’t get away from his job and ate al desko.

The sandwich remains to the British Isles what sushi is to the Japanese. An obsession, an art form, a national treasure and part of the furniture. One of the few truly democratic aspects of English life, it can be wolfed as a chunky cheese and pickle in a pub with a pint as readily as it can be taken in crustless triangles lined with paper-thin cucumber or smoked salmon with afternoon tea ($150 per person at Claridge’s, with Champagne and cakes thrown in).