Serving sandwiches with the crusts removed for afternoon or high tea is a English tradition that spans more than 170 years, according to Tamasin Day-Lewis, author of "Supper for a Song: Creative Comfort Food for the Resourceful Cook." Brits eat a late evening meal, and tea provides needed sustenance between lunch and supper. The small, savory and sweet sandwiches that include simple, thoughtful ingredients provide flavor and enough substance to satiate hunger for a few hours. The nutritional value of tea sandwiches, like all foods, depends on the ingredients, and well-composed tea sandwiches can offer a nutritious addition to a reducing diet.
Ceremony
If weight loss is the motivation for changing your diet to one that consists of tea sandwiches, borrowing the cultural values of Europeans may be an effective strategy. In the U.S., the constant drive to achieve often ropes eating and nutrition into the game of fast-and-furious consumption. In Europe, a slower, more pragmatic approach portrays eating as a necessary and pleasant time for obtaining nourishment and socializing. Tea sandwiches represent these values. They straddle the extremes of food categories, providing a better option than either a gut-busting burger and fries or an unsatisfying, extreme diet-conscious salad, and offer a nutritious and low-key dieting experience.
Tea Sandwich Basics
Tea sandwiches are different from standard American sandwiches in their appearance, size and composition. Remove the crusts from the bread, spread one slice with butter and apply a thin layer of filling. Common fillings include egg salad and radish and chive cream cheese. The variety is an advantage of consuming tea sandwiches. Divided in half, several small sandwiches may be eaten as a meal or for afternoon tea.
Ingredients
Sandwich fillings include egg salad and watercress, chicken salad, thinly sliced radishes with chives on cream-cheese filling, thinly sliced seedless cucumbers on butter, roasted chicken and tarragon on butter and thinly sliced roast beef on butter. Bread types include whole wheat, white, brown bread and rye. Thinly slice a French baguette to create mini sandwiches.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional value of tea sandwiches varies based on the ingredients. Most tea sandwiches contain a thin layer of butter or cream cheese on one slice of the bread. Using low-fat cream cheese reduces fat and calories by about half. Butter is a high-fat luxury, but adds great flavor and satisfaction for the relatively small amount used. A 1 tbsp. serving of butter contains about 12 g of fat and 100 calories; but you may find that a tsp. or less will add the desired flavor and richness. Including an adequate amount of fiber in the diet is important for digestive and cardiovascular health and weight management. Supplementing tea sandwiches with legumes, fruits and vegetables served alongside the sandwiches or during other meals to supply necessary fiber.
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