There are loads of foods Americans and Brits have different names for. Courgette and zucchini, sweets and candy, crisps and chips, aubergine and eggplant – and the chicken sandwich!
People across the pond are arguing over what a chicken sandwich actually is thanks to one viral Twitter (X) post which is the talk of the internet and has had more than 14 million views.
The chicken sandwich debate
It all started on May 18 when a 20-year-old British student shared a picture of two different foods and wrote: “If Americans call the image on the left a chicken sandwich then wtf do they call the image on the right?”
On the left is the kind of chicken sandwich you’d get at Chick-fil-A, Popeyes or Wendy’s, the fast food type with a fried piece of chicken inside a bun. On the right is a picture of chicken inside sliced wholemeal bread.
People in the UK are arguing that the fast food kind is a chicken burger, while the other is a chicken sandwich. However, Americans are saying the left photo is a chicken sandwich, while the right is a chicken SALAD sandwich.
Americans and Brits argue
Americans think a chicken burger would be made by grinding the meat into a patty, but a chicken sandwich contains a whole fillet. However, British people say it’s a chicken burger because it’s inside a burger bun.
One person wrote: “Bun = burger. Bread slices = sandwich.”
“If it’s in a burger bun then it’s a BURGER,” another agreed.
Someone else asked: “You guys don’t call a burger a beef sandwich though?”
“Why is that a chicken sandwich if you don’t call a beef burger a beef sandwich?” another said.
One American reacted to the tweet on TikTok and even called the picture on the right an insult!
“Just wanna clear things up. This is a chicken sandwich. This is a Popeyes chicken sandwich to be clear,” he said. “This is what I expect to see when I order a chicken sandwich.”
He then hilariously called the chicken in between two slices of bread a “Greek tragedy,” adding: “Don’t you ever call this a chicken sandwich.”
“If you offered me a chicken sandwich and then presented me with this, I would think that you were insulting me,” he continued.
We found out the truth
Let’s clear this up once and for all.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a sandwich is “two pieces of bread with food such as cheese, salad or meat between them”. The two pieces could come in any form, whether it’s a bun, roll, ciabatta or baguette.
So, both types are technically chicken sandwiches! But what about the chicken burger?
By definition, a burger is “meat or other food made into a round, fairly flat shape, fried and usually eaten between two halves of bread roll,” which means it’s the shape of the meat that makes a burger a burger, not the bun.
A chicken fillet is not a round, flat patty, so Americans are right on this one – the fast food kind is a chicken sandwich NOT a chicken burger! Case closed.
