The Origin of the Fish Sammich

My affinity for the fish sandwich began long ago. Whether it was to satisfy a ravenous hunger at dinnertime to offset the french pressed coffee and the Mountain Dew that was my respective breakfast and lunch for that day or whether it was the default choice on a menu where nothing else seemed a viable option to me, one thing became clear to me the more I ate them. First, I found that I never tired of them. Feeling like an anorexic who was just freed from Birkenau I needed something to fill my belly. More interestingly, I found a little secret that the fish sandwich was a good barometer for judging the merit of all the other possibilities on a restaurant's menu. If the fish sandwich was bad, chances are the rest of the menu was bad. If the fish sandwich was good, chances are the rest of the menu was good. So i continued to eat my way from establishment to establishment to find the next fish sandwich that could raise the bar. I began to affectionately call my fish a fish sammich in response to the question, "What do you want to eat tonight?" Thus Fish Sammich, Son! was born.

The fish sammich is quite simply one the most wonderful, completely delicious and simple delicacies ever created. Whether deep fried, crispy, smooth beer battered or delightful crumbly breading it's clear that something magical happens when a select filet of fish gets sandwiched between hearty bread or bun and stacked with pickles, onion, tomato, cheese. It is something divine. In fact, I believe the earliest account of the fish sammich goes back to biblical times, when Jesus invented it to satisfy a crowd.

From Matthew 14, the NIV translation tells us of the account:

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

 ¹³When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  ¹⁵As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
 ¹⁶Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
 ¹⁷"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
 ¹⁸"Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

What had just transpired was the divine creation of the most delicious sammich ever created. If you question whether this was indeed a fish sandwich I say to you, "Why did he have the bread then? Hmm?" Yes, it was a fish sammich and to anyone who has ever eaten a supreme fish sandwich knows -there is enough to feed a multitude or yourself the next day for lunch. Jesus knew what was up.

And so, with much divine curiosity and the ravaging desire to eat every fish sammich in sight from every eatery out there I bring to you Fish Sammich, Son! The blog. Enjoy!