so if hot dogs are a type of taco but could also fall under sandwich in the venn diagram of bread covered meals does this mean a taco is also a sandwich?

we need @danryckert to weigh in immediately.

I'd Imagine a Gordita/Chalupa to be more in the sandwich category, than a regular ass taco.

Okay but whats the verdict on burritos? Are they wraps?

Shit man, the rabbit hole can only go so deep.

Tell that to the fine folks at Boboli. You definitely can bake a pizza crust before applying the toppings, then bake it again. In that sense, a pizza is not so different from a panini or a grilled cheese, and I don't want to live in a world where those aren't considered sandwiches.

Edit: Also, sorry about the weird triple post. This is obviously a subject I am extremely passionate about.

@yesindeed: Then they don't sell pizza, but oven sandwiches.

Hamburgers are sandwiches. they get to be verified special snowflakes because they are Hamburgers.

In a somewhat more lowly way (depending or despite what went into them...) Hot dogs also ride that train.

Burritos would be in the wrap family. Authentic Mexican Gorditas would totally fit into the Sandwich category, but I don't know about Authentic Chalupas. From what I've seen they're a lot like tostadas, but the shell is a fried flour shell with curved crusts to be in the shape of a small boat, which is what Chalupa is translated as in English.

On no planet would this ever be true and I think it is the reason for your main misunderstanding.

Put it this way: the same way you don't call everything simply "bread" if it's made from flour and yeast is the same way you don't call everything a "sandwich" just because it's served on "bread."

The term "hamburger" was created to define a specific food item, much like the term "sandwich" refers to it's own unique combination of ingredients and prep methods. If you laid out a table of cold cuts and pieces of bread, and told someone to make a hamburger they would let you know that they didn't have the necessary ingredients to make a hamburger, because simply "bread and meat inside" isn't an all encompassing definition that can be interchangeably used for both food items.

Either way, hopefully I did some good here and illuminated some clouded minds.

Again, I shall refer you to the very definition of a pizza.

Pizza is a yeasted flatbread generally topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked in an oven.

Boboli pizzas meet every requirement for being defined as a pizza. It may be true that it is also an oven sandwich, but that is strictly because pizzas are a subcategory of sandwich already, and they are baked in an oven. I rest my case.

@humanity: No, I do get you. And you get me. My conscience doesn't want to call pizza a sandwich. Yours doesn't either. We agree on this at least. But with the evidence given on what actually defines bread and a sandwich, we both lose this. This is coupled with a couple of 'ifs' since I do not want to just take wikipedia's every single words as facts, but if pizza crust is bread then we have to acknowledge pizza would be a sandwich if the crust was baked first, then had the ingredients added later. It's madness, to this we agree. But it seems to be correct.

@yesindeed flew off the deep end when he told you pizza's were a subcategory of sandwiches already, because obviously this madness needs to be grounded in strict rules. If the dough is baked with the ingredients then it isn't bread with ingredients it is a singular product so it shall not be called a sandwich in that case. We're not neanderthals here. You can't just say everything is a sandwhich without at least following the definition to the letter. No one would want to live in that world.

Yes.

i see zevvion's been bought out by Big Sandwich.

One day someone will release a paper on the Burgers official status citing our thread as a decade long in depth study.

I'm not sure I buy into this line of reasoning. Is 'sandwich' not a larger umbrella term in which hamburgers are a subset? While you aren't wrong that not everything served on bread is a sandwich, what exactly is so different between the makeup of a hamburger and a sandwich?

I love that this classic topic is still alive!

Hamburger is a sandwich, but not all sandwiches are hamburgers.

All hamburgers are sandwiches, but not all sandwiches are hamburgers.

There.

Folks who keep saying that burgers have their own section on the menu are generally wrong. Sometimes they do, but most menus don't have a big list of burgers to choose from.

Edit: Also, the fine people at Burger King officially refer to their flagship item as the Whopper Sandwich.

Hamburgers are taxonomically sandwiches. The ingredients between the bread slices are irrelevant, otherwise hamburgers and chivitos would be completely different kinds of not-sandwiches.

Tacos and hotdogs are part of the same family, and are sandwiches cousins...

I think its something like this (still not sure about the names, though)

So hamburgers and hotdogs are sandwiches and pizza is an open sandwich, so anything with bread is a sandwich? That's not at all representative of the reality of how these foods are produced, presented and consumed.

When you order one they say "just the sandwhich" sometimes. So that is conformation enough for me.

@aiomon: 8 years later and I finally had this revelation.

I know this was bumped by a spambot, but how fitting that yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of this hot debate.

Also, we're all aging at a disturbing pace. Ten years... hot damn.

So Innuendo Studios has a pretty good episode that inadvertently illuminates, if not outright answers, the reality of this question. It's a video about dissecting genre in the video series Who Shot Guybrush Threepwood? and it touches on the semantics argument of what constitutes a sandwich. Really excellent video, I'd recommend everyone give it a watch.

I suppose hamburgers always contain meat and sandwiches are for me something with salad, cheese and vegetables.

The more controversial question is if a Manwich is a sandwich?

Sausage and egg between bread is a breakfast sandwich. Other types of hot meat between bread are also sandwiches.

As a dog I often wonder,
If you put a sausage between burger buns,
is it a Ham Sanddog,
or a Hotwich Burger?

I have very quickly read 3 random comments, probably spaced out over several years, and have thoughts.

I believe hamburgers to be sandwiches, however they get their own section of the menu in restaurants, separate from sandwiches.

I have seen comments bringing in burritos etc. I believe a sandwich is two discrete pieces of bread, separate from each other. Therefore, tacos, burritoes, hot dogs, etc. are their own categories, although they are cousins in the overall category of using bread instead of plates and utensils to hold and eat food.

I assume I have made the ultimate comment on this thread and that it will now be closed.

After 11 years and one month of pondering this essential question, I can finally weigh in.

A sandwich ('sarnie' or 'butty' here in England) is any food where at least two (2) slices of bread wrap up the contents. I do not personally feel that open-faced sandwiches qualify, despite their name. A hamburger is certainly a sandwich, though.

I've seen people in this thread talk about slices of meat vs. burgered meat as if that means anything. The humble crisp (meaning chip) sandwich and chip (meaning thick-cut fries) butty prove this.

Hamburger is a kind of sandwich.

Everyone's talking about the bread but what makes a hamburger is the patty. If you put a hamburger patty between two slices of rye bread it's still a burger. (Just not an ideal one) You put slices of smoked turkey and cheddar cheese on a bun it doesn't make it a burger. it's still a sandwich.

Hamburger is a subset of sandwiches that requires a patty.

Hotdog Revolutionary checking in. Great dog over any other sandwich any day. Yes I'm a crazy person.

this thread is 11 years old Lol so is hamburger a sandwich or not?

I know in a lot of European countries, including my own, it is referred to as a beef sandwich sometimes.

At my job we have this burger where we have a 4oz burger with fried ham and egg on top between two sliced of toasted rye bread. To me it's more like a sandwitch then a burger at that point in my opinion.

Hamburger is a subsection of sandwich, yes. In terms of connotation, I think burger tends to imply a thicker meat, and a higher meat to vegetable ratio than a sandwich.

Now if you take that top bun off, does that make a hamburger an open-faced sandwich?

Only if it's a Texas Toaster.

These are hamburgers

Are hamburgers sandwiches ? No, because the thing that makes a hamburger a hamburger is completely unrelated to what makes a sandwich a sandwich.

The longer I live in countries other than my home country, the more I am able to accept that a hamburger could be a sandwich sometimes, to some people, in some situations.

After 11 years of contemplation, I am ready to announce that, even though it pains me greatly, hamburgers are technically sandwiches.

Obviously this is only the current state of research. Research must continue. Talk to you guys in 2030.

I always get a little weirded out when I see burgers under the “sandwiches” portion of the menu. To me, burgers can be a sandwich but that isn’t what people normally think of first when someone asks for a sandwich. Now, French dip. THATS a sandwich.

If someone said to me “hamburger sandwich,” I’d expect loose ground beef, not a patty.

I think a hamburger is defined by its beef patty. A sandwich is defined as slices of bread or rolls containing an assortment of things. I suppose there’s a figurative space in the venn diagram where a hamburger is a sandwich, but it’s a small, confusing space where either answer probably works.

yes

@ares42: That first one is actually a "Cheese"burger, not a Hamburger.

Don't worry, half the cashiers/waiters at restaurants I've been to in the last couple decades have made this mistake when I clearly order a hamburger and instead receive a cheeseburger in its' place.

(Just a little pet peeve of mine)

Though your pictures did convince me that maybe a Hamburger is Not a sandwich, because you can call just the meat patty itself a "Hamburger". Before I saw your pictures I was dead set on a "Yes, of course they are" verdict, but now i'm unsure... Regardless, this is a very important subject, and warrants further study. I will go order some Hamburgers and report back.

@nutter: A hamburger sandwich is a sloppy joe.

@sanity: Yeah, I guess so...that’s what I’d expect.