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Sandwiches before the word sandwich
Hillel's Passover bread
Around the beginning of the Common Era, the scholar Hillel combined matzah with bitter herbs and, originally, the Passover lamb to fulfill scripture during Passover. Many people today call it the Hillel sandwich, but nobody called it that at the time. Hillel was taking part in a religious ritual.
Filled buns in Asia
Across Asia, filled buns emerged through entirely different traditions, with no connection to England or the Earl of Sandwich. Anyone who has pulled apart a fresh bao knows the appeal: the dough is warm and soft, a fluffy little cloud that traps the juices inside until the moment it tears open or someone takes a bite.
Just lunch
Each culture used its own breads, fillings, and traditions, and the people eating them were simply having lunch or dinner or observing a ritual.
Why does Passover include a matzah sandwich?
The Talmud, in the tractate Pesachim, describes Hillel eating the Passover offering together with matzah and bitter herbs. The practice rests on a verse in the Book of Numbers that calls for the offering to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. At the modern Seder, a step called korech recalls his custom. Since the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE, no Passover lamb is offered, and the matzah and bitter herbs remain.
Why did so many cultures invent filled breads?
Dough is cheap, portable, and keeps fillings clean and contained, which made it useful for people who ate away from home. The Cornish pasty, the Latin American empanada, and the Indian stuffed paratha all grew out of separate traditions. In pita, the heat turns moisture in the dough to steam, which puffs the round into a pocket.