TikTok’s chopped sandwiches are doing the most

A screenshot of several TikTok videos featuring a sandwiich stuffed with chopped ingredients

TikTok loves a very-chopped sandwich | Screenshot via TikTok

Once again we are sacrificing sandwich integrity for the sake of virality: The TikTok chefs are making chopped sandwiches and chopping them far too much, creating fillings that are somewhere between “egg salad” and “pre-chewed” in texture. I’ll pass, thanks!

Online, the very-chopped sandwich trend started relatively recently, picking up with the chopped grinder sandwiches that made the rounds last spring and summer. Videos of chopped sandwiches account for millions of views on the platform, and the trend has extended into all kinds of chopped sandwiches. Last spring, the creator Lirim Gula began a series that he described as “a journey to piss every nation off through the form of chopped sandwiches.”

Hoagies and, more recently, bagels haven’t been spared either. One example of the latter, featuring a heavily chopped mixture of cream cheese and lox, prompted my colleague Jaya Saxena to remark that it’s already a thing: lox spread.

In real life, the trend has some precedent: The Brooklyn corner store the Farmer in the Deli has, for years, been known for its chopped sandwiches that go beyond the city’s typical chopped cheese. And this is, to be clear, no shade against the chopped cheese specifically. (Well, I guess a little shade: I’m from the Philadelphia area and am therefore obligated to consider the cheesesteak superior.) But the chopped cheese is a kind of made-in-New York peculiarity; it doesn’t need to be a whole genre of viral sandwich.

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