The Sub

The submarine sandwich (or simply “sub”) is a long, cylindrical sandwich filled with meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments, served on a soft Italian-style roll. Its name comes from the roll’s resemblance to a submarine. The sandwich itself grew out of Italian-American communities in the northeastern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Italian immigrants brought recipes for long rolls stuffed with cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers, oil, and vinegar. These portable, hearty meals became popular with workers. Several places claim the “sub” name: One strong early story points to Dominic Conti, an Italian immigrant who ran a grocery store in Paterson, New Jersey, around 1910. Family lore says he started calling his sandwiches “submarine rolls” after seeing a recovered early submarine (the Fenian Ram) on display in a local museum. Print advertisements for “submarine sandwiches” appear as early as 1931 in the Paterson Evening News, and by 1940 in Wilmington, Delaware. A popular (but later) legend links the name to New London / Groton, Connecticut, during World War II, when Italian deli owner Benedetto Capaldo supposedly sold hundreds of the sandwiches daily to workers at the nearby Navy submarine base. The term, however, already existed in print before the U.S. entered the war. Related regional names developed around the same time and place: Hoagie (Philadelphia area) Hero (New York) Grinder (New England) By the mid-20th century the “sub” had spread nationwide, helped along by the growth of pizzerias and, later, chains like Subway (which began as Pete’s Super Submarine Shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1965). So while no single person can be credited with inventing the sandwich, Italian-American delis in the Northeast turned a simple long roll into an American classic—and gave it a name that stuck because it looked like a submersible boat.