The Delicious Southern Sandwiches With A Morbid Name

When asked to name iconic Southern foods, anyone born above the Mason-Dixon line might start by listing fried chicken, barbecue, grits, and fried green tomatoes. (Wasn't there a movie about these?) One thing we sometimes forget, though, is that the South also has quite the sandwich tradition, including some fillings that may not be too well-known outside the region: tomato with mayonnaise on white bread, peanut butter with mayonnaise (also on white), and pineapple with, yep, mayonnaise. Another favorite Southern sandwich, however, isn't known for any unusual ingredients since the filling is basically ham and cheese plus mayonnaise, a condiment that seems to be de rigueur except among calorie-counting iconoclasts, who prefer mustard. While the sandwiches are usually made with Hawaiian rolls or biscuits instead of sliced white bread, that doesn't make them unusual, either. Instead, these ham and cheese sliders stand out because of their name, since they go by the gloomy moniker of funeral sandwiches.

True to their name, funeral sandwiches are meant to be served after their eponymous occasion, although they're also likely to show up at other large get-togethers including Easter parties and homecomings. The latter refers to the church kind, not the school kind, although the dish would most likely be welcome there, too. They also often turn up at tailgates, since what could be more fun than pre-gaming with beer and a funeral sandwich?

The South is famed for its hospitality, so naturally it has a rich tradition of supplying food for funerals. In addition to funeral sandwiches, it also boasts such dishes as cemetery cookies and funeral cakes. While supplying funeral food is a neighborly gesture that can spare the grieving family a catering expense, there's another reason why this practice has such deep roots in the South.

Funeral rites revolving around food date back to Paleolithic times, but some of those specific to the South are rooted in West African practices, brought to the region by enslaved people. For some West African cultures, the celebration of life was called a homegoing, as it was thought that the deceased would be able to return to their true home (in either a literal or spiritual sense), and the foods served to the gathered friends and family might include corn pone, fried fish, gumbo, and stew. Funeral sandwiches may be a more modern addition — although we don't have an exact date for their origins. Still, they fit into the tradition since they're also meant to feed a crowd. 

Designating certain foods as funeral-specific still holds deep symbolic value, since preparing them is a way to memorialize loved ones in a ritual that's both life-affirming and death-accepting. We could even think of bringing those sandwiches to a party or football game as a way to share these occasions with lost loved ones ... or maybe a sandwich is just a sandwich and a name is just a name.