Chatting with the Histocrats: December 2024

Barry Enderwick makes sandwiches from old recipes as written, then plus them up for the modern palate if they have potential. His day job is that he is a partner in a marketing/business consultancy (His big business claim to fame is scaling Netflix from a small startup to an international brand as part of the marketing team from 2001 - 2012. ) His website is https://www.sandwichesofhistory.com/ , and you can find his videos and social media content on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit. His first cookbook Sandwiches of History: The Cookbook has just been published.

1. How and when did you get hooked on history?

I've always been keen on history. It wasn't until my 20s that I developed an interest in cooking. These two worlds came together in 2018 when I found a PDF of The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book published in 1909 and decided to create a social media account to try the recipes and share them with the world.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

History shapes everything that exists today for better or worse. For Sandwiches of History, it is instructive to see what ingredients were used, how things were measured, the complexity (or lack thereof), and how these recipes reflect the era in which they were created.

3. How does history play a part in your professional life/career?

Well, history sets context but it is a context that needs to be understood through the lens of what was happening at the time. One of the many principles we followed at Netflix (and still to at my day job Kaizen Creative Partners, LLC) is to never say "we tried that" and dismiss an idea. It is critical to look at what was happening (competitive environment, social norms, technology development) to understand the "why" behind why it didn't work. That look back helps frame whether an idea should be tested again.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

Well, as we're seeing in our current political environment, the old saw of not learning history in order to avoid repeating still holds true. Unfortunately, too many folks in my opinion, look at history and historical events through the lens of now. For context is critical to understanding what happened, then being able to say "ok, what can we learn from that?"

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

Has to be food. To me, food is a reflection of culture all around the world. So to the extent you look at food traditions and histories, you get a fuller picture of culture, any culture, across time.

6. What is the origin story of "Sandwiches of History"? What do sandwiches reveal about history and culture?

A friend of mine, who knew I was into food and history, sent me the PDF mentioned above. So in 2018, I started Sandwiches of History on Instagram. The first execution was done well and I stopped posting for about a year and half. Then TikTok came along. I stitched together some "making of" videos from Instagram, posted them on TikTok and they took off. I then decided to make new ones and post them once a day at noon PST. I've since brought it back to Instagram as well YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit in addition to TikTok.

Early sandwich recipes either seem to be bare bones (for the common folk) or opulent (for the elites). Much in the way mayonnaise went from a French sauce to a salad dressing to a condiment, so too did the fancier sandwich recipes. Also, recipes reflected the economic and world in which they were created. Early ones and ones from the depression, if they had meat in them at all, usually ground that meat and added to other ingredients to make it go further. World War II had a role in the emergence of margarine due to rationing (prior to the war nearly every recipe featured buttered bread - which is still done to this day in the UK and much of Europe). And, of course, there's bold, let's try anything era of the post-war America where you sandwiches putting together ingredients that might not of been done during or pre-WW II