Did the Ancient Sage Hillel Really Invent the Sandwich? 

A tuna-fish sandwich on rye bread is not a Passover specialty, but the sandwich itself—or so we are told by popular histories of it—is a Passover invention. Here, for instance, is PBS’s The History Kitchen:

Though the earl of Sandwich (or perhaps, his cook) deserves credit for helping sandwiches gain a name and popularity, variations of the concept have been around for centuries. . . . The earliest recognizable form of the sandwich may be the korekh or “Hillel sandwich” that is eaten during the Jewish Passover. Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader and rabbi who lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod, first suggested eating bitter herbs inside unleavened matzah bread. . . . [His] simple recommendation of sandwiching the two foods together may indicate that this was already a popular way of serving food in the Middle East.

The History Kitchen, needless to say, has confused the holiday of Passover with its initial seder night, on which the Haggadah instructs us how to eat the maror or bitter herbs set out on the seder plate while reciting, “[We do this] in commemoration of the Temple according to the custom of Hillel. Thus was Hillel accustomed to do when the Temple was still in existence. He would put together [hayah korekh] unleavened bread and bitter herbs and eat them combined in order to fulfill the verse [Exodus 12:8], ‘Upon unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it.’”