Tomato Sandwich Day, A Southern Tradition

When I went to the Farmer’s Market for some fresh tomatoes yesterday, they had a sign up that the tomatoes would be $1 per lb next Friday, August 10th.
This made me think about that interesting custom down here of tomato sandwiches and the special day when they are served free from the Farmer’s market.
As far as I know, tomato sandwiches (as a delicacy) are a tradition that is only from the South, here in the United States. When I was living out west, we often put lettuce and tomato on a lunchmeat sandwich, and (of course) on hamburgers, but we usually didn’t have a sandwich that was just mayonnaise and tomatoes on bread.
Traditionally, the tomato sandwich is made with soft white bread, mayonnaise, and large slices of tomato, and that’s it.

I looked to see if maybe next Friday was the Tomato Sandwich Day for this year, but apparently that already happened here, back in July. Maybe the special price is just because we are hitting the peak of the season and the farmers want to get a bunch of tomatoes sold, but in any case, I am hoping to go and get more tomatoes next week.
I might even make myself a tomato sandwich, just to celebrate........

https://whnt.com/2018/07/13/tomato-sandwich-day-hits-local-farmers-markets/

 

I prefer them with bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes, and with Miracle Whip rather than mayonnaise (since mayonnaise is just Miracle Whip that has been left out in the sun to go bad), but I have often eaten tomato and Miracle Whip sandwiches.

 

I love tomato on toast sandwiches, too, Holly, although I have only tried them with butter and not olive oil. I am sure that I would like that , too. The hot, toasted bread just seems to go better with the tomato slices, rather than plain bread (especially that soft white bread that they use for them out here).

As far as mayo, I was also started out on a version of Miracle Whip.
It was called “Tang”, and this was before we ever saw or heard of miracle whip. I remember asking my grandmother for a taste when we would go to visit her, and she would give me a small spoonful of it.
One time, she had bought mayonnaise instead (which cost more than Tang did, although I had no idea of that back then), and when she gave me a spoonful, I almost gagged.
They showed me the jar and insisted it was mayonnaise, but it was just not MY kind of mayonnaise !
After that, I always used salad dressing/miracle whip for my sandwiches, and sometimes the regular jar of sandwich spread, which had sweet relish added to it.
When I grew up and got married, my husband would only eat mayonnaise, and we could not afford to have both, so I learned to use regular mayo instead, and that is what I buy now.

 

We buy both Miracle Whip and mayonnaise because my wife has poor taste, and prefers mayonnaise. She uses more mayonnaise than I do Miracle Whip because I pretty much only use it for sandwiches. Although it's called a salad dressing, there are better choices for salads.