On my first solo trip overseas, I went from Thanksgiving in Mississippi to Costa Rica and it’s Gallo Pinto to Mexico and it’s tortillas and beans from morning until evening. All this food was tasty, but I yearned for a plain old boring sandwich like I was used to and my two week stay in LA landed me with my now best friend and her mom who have roots in El Salavador, so there was more beans.

Now, on one particular day, driving in Hollywood, a lively conversation ensued about some great burritos to buy nearby so off we went. When they asked what I preferred my response was prompt and ungrateful, “I just want a sandwich” and my best friends mother’s response was affirmative “oh that’s so boring!”

I knew it was, and yet we can’t help that sandwiches were my regularity that I was now craving. Things have vastly changed and nowadays I would take a burrito over a sandwich any day, it became alarmingly obvious that my love of sandwiches ran deeper than even I knew. So here we are and this is a week of sandwiches from different corners of the globe as the boring and lowly sandwich is a worldwide loved creation and everyone likes it with different fillings.

In fact, I could probably immerse myself fully into sandwiches for a month and still not be done with the many variations of bread and fillings that can be found around this globe. The first stop is Spain,and like the rest of Europe, they have a love of bread and the Bocadillo sandwich is like a national dish that can be bought for a quick snack and it seems every region likes to serve it differently, but this Catalan Bocadillo below is the most easily found recipe.

Catalan Bocadillo
Adapted from Ricardo Cuisine
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 baguette
1 tomato, wedged
Drizzle of olive oil
250 grams/8.80 ounces serrano ham
250 grams/8.80 ounces manchego cheese, sliced

Directions:
Halve the baguette and rub the wedged tomato over the bread, crushing in the process.

Drizzle over the olive oil.

Layer the cheese and ham on top.

Slice and serve immediately.