The Nine-Bite Sandwich

The Nine-Bite Sandwich was one of my early, unpatented inventions, before I entered the field of electrical engineering. It may have had its origins in some earlier, secret culinary experiments conducted in the kitchen when nobody else, especially not my mother, was in the house. Those experiments turned out rather badly — so distasteful, in fact, that I'd rather not remind myself any further about them. The Nine-Bite Sandwich, however, was successful enough that I shared it with the rest of the family. As a father, I have explained it to my children, and now I document it for further generations.

The Nine-Bite Sandwich is a Construction process followed by an Eating process, which I will explain with patent-style drawings. Since it is not patented, I hereby put it into the Public Domain.

Ingredients

The ingredients are two slices of bread and four different spreads of your choice. For the bread, use sandwich bread — the real kind, not that so-called 'Wonder bread' ("I wonder why they call it bread", I always say) that sticks to your gums and palate. For the spreads, I will illustrate with peanut butter (PB), margarine (M), blueberry jam (BB) and strawberry preserves (SB); but you can choose your own.

The Construction Process

As shown in Figure 1, lay the slices of bread (S1 and S2) down in a symmetrical position. This is needed so that the slices will fit neatly when one slice is turned over onto the other slice.

Figure 1

As shown in Figure 2, spread margarine (M) on the left half of slice S1, and spread peanut butter (PB) on the right half of slice S1. Also, spread blueberry jam (BB) on the top half of slice S2, and spread strawberry preserves (SB) on the bottom half of slice S2.

Figure 2

As shown in Figure 3, turn slice S1 (the one on the left) onto slice S2. Notice that this instantly creates four flavor combinations as shown.

Figure 3
The Eating Process

As shown in Figure 4, take the first four bites from the corners of the sandwich as shown. You can peek first, to anticipate each flavor combination, or you can surprise yourself by flipping or rotating the sandwich a few times first.

Figure 4

As shown in Figure 5, take the next four bites from the 'arms' of the cross shape left by the first four bites. Notice that these bites are three-flavor combinations — a more complex flavor experience.

Figure 5
The remaining center is the last, ninth bite. It combines the flavors of all four spreads. This sandwich is fun to make and eat because each bite is a different flavor combination. Yet the sandwich is really quite easy to make.