History Of The BLT

And 'BLT - the best 'morning after' breakfast'

BLT

Recipes are not invented, they evolve. In the case of the Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich (BLT), culinary evidence confirms this recipe descended from late Victorian-era tea sandwiches. The earliest recipes for BLTs were listed under different names in cookbooks.

Most of the ingredients of the BLT (bread, bacon, lettuce) were known to the Ancient Romans. Methods for toasting bread were also practiced during this time. Tomatoes were introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Mayonnaise? An 18th century French invention. According to the food historians, modern sandwiches were also invented in the 18th century. We searched serveral 19th-20th century European and American cookbooks to pin down the introduction of the BLT. It can be argued that the progenitors of BLTs are Club Sandwiches as they are similar in composition and ingredents. About club sandwiches.

The earliest recipes we find that begin to approximate the BLT were printed in the 1920s. Seven Hundred Sandwiches/Florence A. Cowles [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 notes:

"Bacon sandwiches. Bacon is an ingredient of many of the sandwiches in this book, but in those under this heading it is the principal one. Sandwiches containing bacon are particularly good for on hikes or picnics. The recipe below is specially suited for such an occasion, when the bacon may be broiled over and open fire in the woods."
---(p. 31).

This book also includes recipes for "Summer Sandwich," "Bacon Salad Sandwich," Baconion Sandwich." and more. These sandwiches feature bacon, lettuce, mayonnaise, and other ingredients (pickles, onions etc.). They do not yet include tomato. Separate recipes for tomato sandwiches (p. 127) and lettuce sandwiches (p. 128-9) likewise do not include bacon.

Recipes for BLT-type sandwiches printed American cookbooks in the 1930s-1950s typically include cheese.

WHO COINED THE ACRONYM "BLT?"

Our food history books, dictionaries/phrase books and databases do not reveal the person/place responsible for coining the name "BLT." John Marinani, American food historian, hypothesizes this term evolved from diner/lunchroom slang:

"Lunch counters have provided etymologists and linguists with one of the richest sources of American slang, cant, and jargon, usually based on a form of verbal shorthand bandied back and forth between waiters and cooks. Some terms have entered familiar language of most Americans--"BLT" (a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich)...and others--but most remain part of a bewildering and colorful language specific to the workers in such establishments."'

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