Everything between two slices of bread can be called a sandwich.
Ham qualifies. Cheese qualifies. A single sad lettuce leaf qualifies. Nowhere — in any dictionary, deli, or court of law — does the definition set a maximum size for the filling.
International Sandwich Authority · A matter of definition
What is a sandwich?
Two slices of bread and anything between them. Anything.
Put bread at two exactly opposite points of the planet, and by any definition of the record you have made a sandwich.
The Earth Sandwich: The largest sandwich any human can possibly make.
When the entire planet becomes the filling.
Have a partner on the other side, or a Bread code? Make a sandwich →
01 / THE DEFINITION
We checked. There is no fine print.
Yes, it’s really
a sandwich.
Exhibit A — Formal proofISA Ref. 001-B
A planet can sit between two slices of bread.
Stand anywhere on dry land and there is exactly one point on the far side of the world directly opposite you — your antipode. Bread here, bread there, at the same minute: everything between them is between two slices of bread.
Therefore the Earth is a sandwich.
Crust, mantle, molten core, the oceans, every city, and everyone you have ever met: filling. The Authority has reviewed the logic and found it airtight, which is more than can be said for the bread.
“We did not invent this rule. We simply refuse to make an exception for planets.” — the International Sandwich Authority
02 / THE PRINCIPLE
Surprisingly legitimate geometry
How to sandwich
a planet.
Choose a place.
Stand anywhere on dry land. Keep one slice ready. Serious expression optional.
Go straight through.
Draw a line through the exact centre of Earth. Where it exits is your antipode.
Deploy both slices.
Place the bread in the same UTC minute. Congratulations: everything between is lunch.
A
B
You
Your antipode
ANTIPODES
180° APART
180° APART
03 / THE ANATOMY
Official cross-section
What’s in an
Earth Sandwich?
A modest amount of bread. An unreasonable amount of planet.
12,742 kmby sandwich law
04 / THE VERDICT
Results may vary by ocean
Your bread
gets a verdict.
We checked every corner of the planet. Dry land at both ends is rare. Failure, fortunately, is still funny.
RESULT 00THE MAJORITY
Soggy
Sandwich.
Your other slice lands in open ocean. Welcome to the club.
96% PROBLEMRESULT 03RARE FIND
Exact
Match.
Bread lands on bread. Please remain calm and find your other slice.
ARTISANALRESULT 02RESPECTABLE
Deli
Grade.
Within 50 kilometres. The Sandwich Authority will allow it.
APPROVED05 / THE RECORD
An unbeatable category
The largest sandwich any human can possibly make.
Sandwiches have been getting bigger for centuries. This is where that arms race ends: you cannot out-sandwich the planet you are standing on.
Cucumber tea sandwich polite society
Club sandwich requires toothpick engineering
Deli skyscraper special structurally reckless
County-fair showpiece required a forklift
Earth Sandwich requires a friend on the other side of the world
Not remotely to scale. To scale, this bar would be 40 km long.
World record · Category: sandwich, largest possible
Unbeatable. Tieable.
A larger sandwich would require a larger planet, and the Authority has reviewed the available planets: too gaseous, or insufficiently local. The record cannot be broken — only tied. Every completed Earth Sandwich equals it exactly, and both of its makers hold the title for life.
06 / THE RULES
Enforced by common sense
Official
Sandwich Law.
We are flexible about lunch. We are inflexible about geometry.
01A sandwich is defined.
Two slices of bread and anything between them constitute one (1) sandwich. The Authority did not write this definition; it merely refuses to make exceptions for planets.
02Synchronise the bread.
Deploy both slices at the same UTC instant, with an official tolerance of five minutes.
03Boats do not count.
Both slices need dry ground. Expedition-class ice is legal; floating bread boards are not.
04Accuracy has flavour.
Within 1 km is exact, within 50 km is deli-grade, and within 200 km is gloriously sloppy.
05Show your work.
After deployment, both photographs must clearly show the bread, the location, and a trustworthy UTC timestamp.
07 / THE MISSION
Find your other slice
There is someone
under your feet.
A dry result is more than a coordinate. It is an invitation to find a person on the other side of the world, agree on a minute, and do something wonderfully unnecessary together.
Earth Sandwich maps and extends Ze Frank’s 2006 challenge. The geometry is real. The institution is mostly sandwiches.
After the original Earth Sandwich — Ze Frank, 2006
08 / THE FIELD GUIDE
For the record, in plain words
What is an Earth sandwich?
An Earth sandwich is two slices of bread placed at exactly opposite points on the planet, called antipodes, at the same moment, so that the whole Earth is the filling. It takes two people, one on each side of the world, and some luck with geography.
Who invented the Earth sandwich?
Ze Frank issued the challenge on the 16 May 2006 episode of his video blog, the show with zefrank. Viewers in Spain and New Zealand answered it that year, and people have been making Earth sandwiches ever since, including an Auckland student and a chef in Spain whose sandwich made the news in January 2020. Earth Sandwich is the map, the rulebook and the record board the challenge never had.
Frequently askedISA Ref. 008-Q
How do I make an Earth sandwich?
Find your antipode on the map and check that both ends are dry land. Find a partner who lives near the other end, or can travel there. Then start a sandwich and send your partner the link it gives you. When you are both in place, each of you puts the bread down and photographs it, within the same five minutes. Once reviewed, your sandwich goes on the Sandwich Board.
Where on Earth can you make one?
Only where land sits opposite land: 13.5% of the world’s land, or roughly 4% of its surface. The main corridors are Spain and Portugal with New Zealand; China, Mongolia and Taiwan with Argentina, Chile and Paraguay; Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines with Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil; and Hawaii with Botswana. Look up the antipode of any large city to see which side you are on.
Can I make one from the US, Canada, the UK or Australia?
Mostly not from home: from almost all of these countries the other slice lands in the ocean. Hawaii is the exception (its antipode is Botswana), and the Canadian Arctic backs onto Antarctica for the truly committed. Everyone else needs a plane ticket to one of the corridors.
Do both slices have to go down at the same time?
Yes. The point is that both slices hold the planet at once, so the rules allow five minutes either side of the same UTC instant. A slice placed the next day is a leftover.
How exact does it have to be?
Bread almost never lands on the precise antipode, so accuracy is graded: exact within 1 km, deli within 50 km, and sloppy within 200 km. All three count as Earth sandwiches; the Board ranks them.
The record is waiting to be tied
Make the largest sandwich
any human can possibly make.
Have a partner on the other side, or a Bread code? Make a sandwich →