Vintage Sandwich: Salami, Kraft Singles, Lettuce, and Olives!

Okay, so this sandwich is not really vintage—it just has a vintage vibe. For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking over vintage Kraft ads from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

The Kraft marketing department was truly fascinating. Their ads essentially did three things: showcased the variety of Kraft products (such as their sandwich spreads like mayo, mustard, and sandwich spreads), provided examples of how to use their products in a variety of dishes—primarily sandwiches—and presented all of this in appealing, highly saturated, and contrasted ads that looked half like a photograph and half like a drawing.

This was the advertising style of the time. You can see it across many brands from that era, including Swanson and Campbell’s. But Kraft stood out for its simplicity. So, as I was at the Drug Mart a few days ago looking over the cheese aisle, I saw a pack of 24 slices of Kraft Singles. Immediately, the image of those cheesy (pun intended) sandwiches came to mind, and I decided to make one—just for fun.

Now, there’s nothing vintage about a piece of bread, salami, and American cheese. In fact, I bet there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people making that same kind of sandwich that day. So, I concede—there’s nothing revolutionary here. Sandwiches are generally simple. If you have some deli meat, cheese, and bread, you’ve got yourself a sandwich. What makes this a bit vintage, though, is the way it’s styled. That’s what I was going for—the look.

I purposely over-saturated, increased the contrast on, and tried to make as 1960s as possible in Photoshop, it really does resemble something from that period. I even bought those toothpicks with the colored plastic tops and some black olives—which were delicious, actually. What do you think?

So, what’s in this sandwich?

Ingredients:

• Genoa Salami
• Mayonnaise
• Italian sub bread
• Kraft Singles
• Lettuce
• Black olives

The result:

And then of course I put the sandwich in the air fryer at 400°F for 5 minutes. Just because a little crispiness can make the sandwich even better!

The result?

It was actually one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever tried. The salami became super crispy on top. Between the salami and the bread (which was also super crispy but not burnt), there was this delicious gooey layer of cheese, with some crunch from the lettuce and another warm, gooey layer of mayo. It was astounding! I’d happily buy this sandwich and pay $8 for it at a restaurant. Seriously, I could see this on the menu at some trendy city café, and I would definitely order it. I imagine it came out to around 800 calories.

Try it out and let me know!