In A Hearty Book of Veggie Sandwiches (Sasquatch, Jan.), chef Freeman freshens up the sandwich with vegetarian recipes that are big on flavor.
What ignited your love affair with the sandwich?
It really wasn’t a love affair. It was a means of survival. My mom was a “creative” cook who liked to experiment. I was expected to try her creations, but if they were not to my taste, I could make a sandwich. Needless to say, I ate a lot of PB&J sandwiches as a youngster, and started making them for school lunch. Later, in college, I had to be careful with funds, so my daily sandwich was hummus, with green pepper on sourdough. As my understanding of ingredients developed as a budding young chef, my understanding of sandwiches grew more polished. Today—as a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids to make lunch for everyday—I’m more creative with sandwiches. I still eat a sandwich everyday.
Why write a book about plant-based sandwiches now?
While looking at today’s sandwich books, I saw space for books about vegetarian sandwiches. The plant-based sandwich books I came across usually incorporated processed-vegetable-based foods or a lot of fake meat ingredients or prepackaged non-meat products. I’m not a vegetarian—when I do eat meat, I go all out and eat a hamburger—but several times a week, I do prefer eating vegetables. If I am going to eat vegetarian, I want to eat whole foods, not packaged vegetarian products. My book uses super-accessible whole foods in new exciting ways that won’t break the bank. No matter what percentage of your diet is vegetarian, going meatless is good for your health, wallet, and the planet.
What would you say are the key ingredients to making a great sandwich?
It’s all about the layers—not even specific ingredients, but how you put the sandwich together. You need your base—bread—and it’s important to protect the bread from getting sodden. Then add something punchy, creamy, salty, sweet, and acidic. A pickle perfectly combines salty, crunchy, and acidic, while jam is sweet, and cheese is creamy. Make sure you have all those components. The book provides a blueprint for getting all the layers, textures, and flavors in the right order.
How do you hope to change readers’ understanding of the humble sandwich?
People have the misconception that sandwiches are boring, but they don’t have to be. I took a few liberties in my cookbook and stretched the definition of sandwich, but in my mind, anything wrapped up in some type of bread with something stuffed inside is a sandwich. Sandwiches are flexible and require no fancy ingredients to be great.
