The Great Irish Sandwich

Filed in archive Destination: UK + Ireland on June 29, 2006

Ireland has an extremely ill-earned reputation for rather rubbish cusine, when in fact from the world famous Ballymaloe Cooking School to the two Michelin starred Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, Ireland is cranking out some world-class food in its restaurants and hostelries.

But now Hellman's is sponsoring a contest honouring the altogether more pedestrian and humble domestic sandwich. The judges at the Great irish Sandwich Competition are "not looking for some cordon bleu masterpiece. We want a sandwich made just the way you like it." Which is good, since a cordon bleu masterpiece would by definition be French and not Irish.

In any case, the winner takes home 20,000 euros ($25,900US or £13,750GBP) for slapping together the ultimate combination of foods held together with two bits of bread. That's certainly more than enough to ship you to the real Cordon Bleu of your choice.