Sandwiches - they're everyone's favourite food! Whether the last one you had was filled with peanut butter, ham, cheese, chocolate spread, pickle, tuna - or maybe even ALL of these things - we would bet a lot of money that it wasn't that long ago. As we'll find out, people eat a lot of sandwiches - but apart from them being delicious and convenient, how much do you really know about these amazing bready inventions?

Read on to find out about the biggest, weirdest and most expensive sandwiches ever, and see what you think about the sandwich's controversial origin story! For more foodie facts check out these cheesecake facts, these pasta facts, or even these deliciously interesting dessert facts!

1. They were invented by a posh English guy... maybe

The sandwich is *apparently* named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He is said to have asked his servant to bring him meat stuffed between two slices of bread so that he could grab a quick snack whilst out hunting or you know, doing Earl stuff. His friends started to ask for ‘the same as Sandwich’, and the name stuck from there!

The first written record of the word “sandwich” appeared in 1762, but as we'll find out later - there are some kinds of sandwich that are MUCH older!

2. They're really convenient

Sandwiches are popular for good reason - they're really easy to eat and take with you. They can be eaten anywhere and easily taken with you in packed lunches. They can have any filling, and be savoury, sweet, spicy, gooey, crispy... whatever you want! The Wall Street Journal from the USA has called the sandwich Britain's greatest ever contribution to global food. Sorry, Yorkshire Puddings!

3. HOW MANY SANDWICHES??

People in the USA eat about 300 million sandwiches every day — that's one a day for every American! The British eat a little bit less, but still a lot at around 11.5 billion sandwiches a year. That is about 31,000,000 daily. Just imagine that in a big pile!

4. A tasty debate

The number of sandwiches eaten every day increases massively if you include burgers in it. And sandwich fans are always arguing with burger boffins about what a sandwich is or isn't. Is it just some kind of filling between bread? Because if so - burgers are sandwiches. Others say the bread has to be sliced, whch means rolls and baps are all ruled out. We think being a sandwich is more of a state of mind... so welcome to club sandwich, burgers!

5. The world's fastest sandwich

Ever wanted a sandwich in a hurry? Us too! Well one couple from Germany set the world record for the fastest sandwich ever, after making one in a lightning fast 40 seconds! Wow! They even did it blindfolded, and worked out a routine for layering up ham and tomato in the blink of an eye! We just hope they ate it a bit slower - because otherwise that's asking for indigestion!

6. The world's biggest sandwich

Next up in our list of record-breaking sarnies is the world's largest! This absolute beast was 2,467.5 kg was made by Wild Woody’s Chill and Grill, Roseville, Michigan, USA. The sandwich had 68 kg mustard in it, 468.1 kg of corned beef, 118 kg cheese, 240 kg lettuce and 1,618 kg bread. Now THAT'S a big sandwich!

7. The Iranian Ostrich Sandwich Fiasco

So a group of Iranian chefs tried to beat the largest sandwich record by making their own gigantic ostrich meat sandwich... but it went horribly wrong! Organisers made a 1,500 metre-long sandwich with 1,000kg of ostrich meat. More than 1,000 cooks worked from early morning to put it all together, but then disastar struck. The public just started eating it before the Guinness World Record team had a chance to measure the full thing! So it was disqualified! Nooooo!

8. The world most expensive sandwich in a restaurant

The most expensive sandwich that you can buy in a restaurant is the "Quintessential Grilled Cheese" which sells for $214 at a place in New York, USA. This outrageously rich snack is served on two pieces of French Pullman champagne bread made with Dom Perignon champagne and edible gold flakes, with white truffle butter and the very rare Caciocavallo Podolico cheese. The sandwich is served with South African Lobster Tomato Bisque as a dipping sauce. Sounds, err... nice?

9. The most expensive sandwich EVER

The most expensive sandwich ever was sold for a ridiculous $28,000 – and it was a grilled toast sandwich that seemed to have an image of Virgin Mary on it. The original owner, spotted the likeness and sealed it up, and kept it for 10 years as a lucky charm. She later sold it to an Canadian online casino... who we can only guess have more money than they know what to do with!

10. The Fool's Gold Loaf

Elvis' favourite sandwich is also a record-breaker in some ways, because it's got to be one of the silliest sandwiches ever. Legend has it that Elvis once flew took his private jet across the USA and back in one night because he wanted a Fool’s Gold Loaf sandwich from Denver, Colorado. It's an 8,000 calorie sandwich made from a hollowed out loaf filled with an entire jar of peanut butter, an entire jar of jam, and a whole pound of bacon. Delicious? Or gross? You decide!

11. The Rou Jia Mo Controversy

So, as we mentioned in fact 1 - most people claim that the Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich. But actually, there's evidence of a much much older sandwich. This is the rou jia mo, a bready meat snack from China dating back 2000 years! They are still eaten today, and are basically a bun stuffed with stewed pork belly. They sound like a sandwich to us, so step back Earl of Sandwich! Sandwiches are Chinese after all!

12. The world's most rubbish sandwich

Probably has to be the toast sandwich. It's literally just 2 slices of bread, with a slice of toast in the middle as a filling. Now, we've never eaten one (because we don't hate ourselves) but maybe the texture could be interesting with soft bread around something crispy. But the total lack of flavour and incredible dryness means this one is a big no from us.

13. The Rubik's Cubewich

This is worth including in this list because it's just so silly - the Rubik's Cubewich! Inspired by the popular puzzle, the Rubik's Cubewich was invented by the blog insanewiches and is made of cubes of meat and cheese. It looks cool and is definitely a sandwich... but how do you eat it? Could you crack the puzzle? Here's the inventor of the actual Rubik's cube, Ernő Rubik. We wonder what his sandwiches look like.

14. Hawaii used to be called the Sandwich Islands

That's right... and guess why? They were also named after our old friend the Earl of Sandwich! Hawaii was discovered by Europeans in 1778, and despite people living there already the Captain in charge of the voyage named it after the Earl. The Earl of Sandwich was the head of the British Navy at the time. So it was basically an attempt to impress his boss! In the 1800s it was renamed Hawaii - which is much better, really!

15. The Earth Sandwich!

One of our favourite sandwiches of all time is a little different - two men in New Zealand and Spain made an "Earth sandwich" by placing bread on the ground, on the exact opposite side of the planet, at the same time. That means there was 12,724km (7,917 miles) of Earth packed between the slices. Now that's really the biggest sandwich ever!