Last CallLast Call is The Takeout’s online watering hole where you can chat, share recipes, and use the comment section as an open thread. Here’s what we’ve been reading/watching/listening around the office today.Posh British sandwiches
This Guardian article is a fascinating look back at the rise of the pre-made sandwich in Britain. I was hooked because, simply, I love sandwiches, but I stayed reading to better understand a time when preassembled sandwiches seemed like a kooky idea. “Who would pay for something they could just as easily make at home?” the story asks. How quaint. Oh, but a quick graphic content warning: The article contains the phrase “prawn mayonnaise.” [Kate Bernot]
The death of dive bars
This Munchies rant about the slow death of dive bars really spoke to me. I watched some of my favorite Chicago dive bars shutter in recent years, and I can only assume more will go the way of the Beachwood Inn and Club Foot soon. Vice’s Josh Androsky perfectly captures how annoying faux-dives are, and explains what was so great about classic dives in the first place: real jukeboxes curated by a caring, crusty staff, deep-fried bar food and cheap, watery beer. “To be completely honest with you, I’d be willing to look past this, all of this, if you didn’t make it cost five bucks for a Pabst,” Androsky writes. Amen. [Jen Sabella]
London Boys vs. Autechre
Someone spliced a track from British electronica duo Autechre with this circa-’80s aerobics video, and it’s the most hypnotic two minutes you’ll spend tonight. [Kevin Pang]
DISCUSSION
The ubiquity of triangular plastic-wrapped sandwiches in every high-street retailer in the UK was one of the things that most struck me when I went to the UK for the first time in 2005 for three weeks. Even the good ones were never wholly satisfying, but goodness they were convenient.
Wish the piece had a section on the environmental impacts of the sheer amount of plastic packaging waste these sandwiches generate every day, but a terrific piece of longform nonetheless.