My post today is about a sandwich that’s complicated not because it has a lot of ingredients, but because it combines two whole meals: breakfast and lunch!

You’ve probably heard about the famous Monte Cristo, and maybe you’ve even eaten one! If you haven’t, here’s what it is: a ham and/or turkey sandwich with Swiss cheese, served on French toast with maple syrup (as shown above) or fruit jam (as not shown above). Is that crazy or what? It’s totally a salty lunch sandwich, but then you throw in the French toast and syrup and it becomes a sweet breakfast! It usually comes with fries and a pickle (as shown above), but on the other hand the French toast is usually sprinkled with powdered sugar (as not shown above).

I bet you’re thinking, who the heck invented this crazy sandwich? For the answer we turn to history. You’ve probably heard about the famous book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I said you’ve probably heard about it, but you probably haven’t read it—I don’t know anybody who has. It’s old and long. But even though you haven’t read it, you probably know that it’s about a guy who gets thrown in prison for a long time. Well, that guy was based on a real person!

There actually was a Count of Monte Cristo, and he lived in olden times. When he was in prison he got very hungry because he was only allowed to have one meal a day. The lucky thing was, he was allowed to pick his meals. Pretty soon he got smart and asked for a cheese and meat sandwich that—you guessed it!—was served on French toast. The guards were like, that sounds crazy, but they did it anyway. The French toast part was easy, because they were in France, but they had to give him fruit jam because maple syrup hadn’t been invented yet. The Count was smart: he got two meals for the price of one. By combining breakfast and lunch into one sandwich, he got his daily supply of meat, dairy, carbs and sugar. He even got some eggs in the French toast batter! Pretty soon he got his old strength back and was able to overpower his guards and bust out of prison. His sandwich became legendary and was passed down through the generations to become the thing we know today.

I have only two questions about this story: one, why didn’t the Count combine lunch and dinner to get even more nutrition out of his one meal? My answer is, he probably realized the guards would get wise to his tricky ways. They might even stop giving him food altogether! He knew not to overplay his hand. That’s just my take, anyway. My second question is, why didn’t Alexandre Dumas put this story into his fictional book? My answer is, I don’t know! It’s a great story! Alexandre Dumb-ass, if you ask me!

Anyway, hats off to the Monte Cristo, a true count among sandwiches, which combines not just several great ingredients but two great meals! And hats off to the Count of Monte Cristo, the man who started it all.